Make a Wish
by Magsmacdonald
Summary: Eric receives a request from a dying boy, Hunter, to take his mother, Sookie, on a date. Eric decides to give the request a chance in the hopes it will alleviate some of his boredom with life. AU / OOC! Rated M for language and later chapters. E/S. Mild angst/drama. Only posted through chapter 8 on fanfiction - please go to my wordpress page where the story will be completed.
1. Chapter 1

**Hope you like my new story. It's also on my wordpress site - and there are some terrific banners for the characters as well.**

**~mags**

**Story Summary - **

Eric receives a request from a dying boy, Hunter, to take his mother, Sookie, on a date. Eric decides to give the request a chance in the hopes it will alleviate some of his boredom with life. OOC! Rated M for language and later chapters. E/S. Mild angst/drama.

**_If you have aversions to_**: Eric as a family man or romance bordering on sappy, this is not the story for you. I have some very mild drama planned, stuff that starts and resolves in the course of one chapter (one situation may take two chapters – I haven't written that far out yet).

**Main characters with comments**:

**_Eric:_** Vampire, Sheriff of Area 5 as normal. Bored with life, looking for something else. Willing to step out of typical vampire character for Sookie – he's immediately drawn to her.

**_Sookie_**: Telepath with a slightly different background – she started her education and has a better handle on her shields. Less stubborn than CH Sookie (though it can flare occasionally). Has maintained a long distance crush on Eric for a few months.

**_Hunter_**: Telepath - Totally cute and wants his Mommy happy. He knows about Sookie's crush so he writes a letter. In the book, Hunter is diagnosed as terminal. If that put you off, or you're unsure – I do have a spoiler posted on his situation –see my wordpress site. It's a spoiler – and you've been warned.

**_Jason_**: You'll hate him

**_Pam_**: Not gonna be too fond of this Pam.

**_Maxine Fortenberry_**: What's she doing in a fanfic as a major character? Gran is gone and she stepped up to help Sookie and Hunter. She's not the annoying Maxine that we normally have. Even Eric LIKES her!

AND THE STORY:

**Chapter 1 – The Letter**

Laughter, no that's not right. Cackling, evil cackling is what Eric heard before Pam made it to his office door. Ginger, his absent minded staff supervisor was working tonight; perhaps she'd worn two different shoes, again. Or perhaps she finally realized that the names on the lockers next to hers: Mary Ann and Lovey were in fact jokes. It was a few minutes before the bar opened so he didn't think a customer had caused that much fun for Pam. Finally, Pam had reached the door and knocked WHILE she opened it, such a disrespectful child, and he saw what had caused the laughing. Holding her head high while Pam had been laughing, apparently at HER, was an older distinguished lady. Pam stopped her personal fun enough to introduce his visitor. "Master, Mrs. Genevieve Burke to see you. She insisted." The lady walked into the room in her pink suit, modest heels and short cropped perfectly styled hair and Pam just laughed again.

"I think that's enough Pam. Please ensure we're ready for our opening."

Pam left feeling a bit put out that Eric didn't join in the laughter; he was such a bore lately. She decided to toy with Ginger even though there were a few things that she should be doing before opening, she figured nobody would notice. When Eric first called her back to Louisiana to help with the bar, she wasn't that thrilled but he was so happy to see her, it was almost infectious. She dove into the work with him and shortly after the reveal they opened Louisiana's first Vampire bar, Fangtasia. Sure others had followed, but those bars never cut into their business. They had to turn away patrons every night. Some came for the walk on the wild side, some came to be close to any vampire and many came to be close to her maker. Eric Northman had, in just days after the opening, earned a reputation as the vampire to see in northern Louisiana. The ladies couldn't resist. He was tall – 6 and a half feet - had broad shoulders, a narrow waist, beautiful piercing blue eyes and golden long hair. Though their sexual relationship had ended over 200 years ago, she could see the appeal. For Pam, the appeal of the reveal and the bar was the smorgasbord of beautiful women who threw themselves at her. She never wanted for a fresh fuck and feed any night and frequently many times a night. In the beginning, her Master enjoyed that benefit too. Lately he hardly glanced at a fangbanger. Pam shook her head, dismissing her thoughts and went in search of her victim. "Oh Ginger! Come entertain me."

Meanwhile, in his office Eric moved to stand when Mrs. Burke entered and he now put out his hand, "Mrs. Burke, I'm Eric Northman, how can I help you?" Mrs. Burke was surprised by this; she'd been told that vampires didn't shake hands.

"Genny please." She answered after she got over her shock and shook his hand.

"Eric. Won't you have a seat?" Taking one of the wooden seats in front of his desk; he gestured to the other.

"You're a hard man get in touch with."

"I beg your pardon?"

"I've been sending letters and calling for you at Viking Industries for weeks. Well, some of my staff has as well. I apologize for coming just before opening to your bar and surprising you, but I felt I had no other choice. Clearly your employee didn't feel my presence here was appropriate given her reaction, so I'll be as brief as possible and get out of your hair. I take it 70 year olds in pink suits aren't the norm here?"

"Hardly. That employee, Pamela Ravenscroft in case she didn't introduce herself properly, is my child - my vampire child – you are aware of that type of relationship?" Genny simply nodded. "I apologize for the difficulty in reaching me. The receptionist at Viking is overly cautious about putting anyone in touch with me directly, though I should have at least gotten messages. I'll follow-up tomorrow. I can't imagine what would be so important though. Can you enlighten me?"

"I represent the Make a Wish organization in Louisiana. That's a group that grants wishes to children who are fighting life threatening illnesses. I've come to find you because I have a wish that's related specifically to you."

His eyebrows went high in his head at her words. '_What could I possibly have to do with a sick child?'_ He wondered. "Is it a donation of some sort? My businesses are hardly something I would consider attractive to a child."

"No it's you PERSONALLY. I think the easiest thing to do is provide you the letter I've tried to send you. I take it since you don't know what this request is, you haven't seen that either."

She handed Eric a letter – it was a copy as he could see what looked like crayon for the signature, but couldn't smell the wax. Moving his gaze from the signature back up to start the letter, he read while Genny watched:

_Dear Mr. Northman_:

_My name is Hunter Stackhouse and I am in Shreveport Parish Hospital. I'm 4 years old and I'm writing to you to make my final wish. There's a nice lady sitting here, writing down everything I say for you. Hopefully she is writing it all; I'm only starting to read so I have to trust her. Anyway, I'm dying, I know this. There ain't nothing anyone can do. When that happens to kids, they get to make a wish. Some kids ask for trips to Disney, or to meet their favorite baseball star. I don't have that kind of wish. _

_My wish is for my Mommy. She gave up everything so she can stay with me every day here at the hospital and she's real tired. She needs a break and a fun surprise. I hope you can help. We both saw you when you came to the dedication of the new open MRI Machine at Good Shepherd Hospital about 6 months ago. I was in that hospital back then. Well, Mommy thought you were just beautiful (that's what she said, I didn't say that about a dude – sorry!). She needs a date. She needs to get out beyond the times I'm in dialysis and the one night a week when Uncle Hoyt comes with his friend Jessica to sit with me. Why does she need a date? 'Cause when she does leave my side she either works or goes to Gramma Fortenberry's to do laundry and cook. _

_If I can get them to come on an extra night, will you take my Mommy out on a date? Oh, and don't worry about whether there's a Daddy married to Mommy. My Daddy is dead, I never met him so I don't miss him or anything, but Mommy's all available for ya._

_Oh and she knows you're a vampire, but she don't care 'bout stuff like that._

_Thanks for reading._

_Hunter Stackhouse_

Floored. Eric was floored at both the innocence AND maturity at the letter. "Was this really what HE said?"

"I wasn't the one to take the letter request, but I've been assured by my volunteer in Shreveport that those were his words."

"Are all children diagnosed as terminal this matter-of-fact about their deaths?"

"It's not unusual."

"You said your volunteer in Shreveport, are you not from here?"

"No, I live in Baton Rouge. Truth is Mr. North . . . Eric, I have two volunteers locally, and they were hoping you would just respond to the letter and decline the request. When it was apparent we weren't getting through to you, I knew we needed to try you here and they are both a little too scared to come to a vampire bar."

"You traveled here to deliver this to me?" She nodded. "That's commitment."

"These children deserve their wishes. I've been running this group for fifteen years and we've never declined a child their wish. For many children, the wish helps them battle their conditions. I've seen that myself with some of the kids I've worked with."

"How did you get involved? It seems that there's something really driving your dedication."

"I lost my own son when he was only eight years old. He was sick his entire life and then died. His wish was to swim with dolphins – and this was before the popular and easily attended attractions for that were available. I had to jump through hoops for my son and it was worth it. I'd NEVER seen him smile as he did that day. He did come back with more spirit for fighting his disease, but in the end the disease won. I want every kid who needs that joy to have that chance."

"So you've got a perfect record and if I said 'No' I'd ruin that for you?"

"In a nutshell you are correct. Though I don't want you to do something that you would consider a burden as it would be easily seen by Hunter that you don't want to do it – that wouldn't make him happy either." She paused for a moment and he could see she was mulling over something. "Honestly, I thought you would throw me out already or whoever answered the door would prevent me from even meeting with you."

"Well, at the risk of offending you, the only reason Pam brought you back is because she thought I would share her laughter." Genny raised her eyebrow. "She enjoys making fun of humans. I have to admit that sometimes I can't resist sharing in her fun – especially with some of the desperate types we see at Fangtasia. In any case, I apologize for her behavior but recognize that it's the behavior that got you in the door."

"What about not throwing me out. You're actually considering this, aren't you?"

"I am."

"That's all I'm getting?" He hesitated and she saw a flash of hurt across his eyes. Hurt was something she recognized and she saw it clearly. "I'm sorry I pushed."

"No, I don't think about it all that often. I lost one of my children in his fourth winter. Back when I was a human I mean. I lost another right after her birth, my wife died with the baby. Losing a baby was hard, but losing my son was harder because . . . "

"You knew him, enjoyed him."

"Yes, exactly."

"So you said fourth winter. You've been around for a while I guess."

"Over 1000 years."

"Wow. My brother-in-law teaches history. He'd love to meet you."

"It's a shame other humans don't see that as an opportunity and see us instead as something to be feared or exterminated." She gave him a blank look. "Well, I guess there are some vampires that should be feared. Given specific circumstances, I guess that would include me."

"Well, the religious idiots that preach garbage about killing vampires are wrong. But, I would think you'd be pretty scary with your fangs down. NOT that I'm asking to see that; I'm here on business." She pulled a file out of her large bag. "I thank you for sharing your history and I'm sorry for both our losses." He nodded in accord.

With a gesture towards the file he asked his next question. "Is that for me? What happens from here?"

"If you're willing, you go meet her. I can go with you and handle introductions."

"I do have to do some research. I hope you understand, I'm a wealthy man and I just need to consider if anything. . ."

She put her hands up. "Say no more Mr. Northman. We've vetted out the situation as we always do. Since this request is so personal, I thought you might be concerned. The problem here is – well – information about the family is private as it's covered by HIPPA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act . . ."

"I'm familiar with that."

"That was easy, but that means I can't GIVE you information from the file." She held the file in her hands and then purposely set it in on the desk, spinning it to face him. "I'm confident that there is nothing dubious going in though." Suddenly she stood and the file pushed just a few inches closer towards Eric as her hand was still on it when she moved. "I do need to freshen up before I hit the road though."

He got her meaning immediately – at 70 she'd earned the right not to be subtle. Eric offered, "I think barring any problems we can come to an arrangement. It's only one date after all. What's her name?"

"Sookie, Sookie Stackhouse from Bon Temps Louisiana."


	2. Caught!

**WOW - you guys gave chapter 1 a ton of love and I appreciate it! I'm also scared by it since many of you added thoughts about where we're going and how Sookie will react, Eric's healing blood etc. I'll just say this - We are using canon characters and some of the underlying background from the SVM stories - but not much so you'll probably be surprised. Characters will not react and act in ways as they would in the books. Please don't yell at me later when that happens.**

**On the healing of blood - you'll just really have to wait. I've only started writing about the details on Hunter's illness all the way in chapter 16 - so hang on (if you're new to a Mag's story, you'll need to know that I write way ahead of posting and sit, mull and rethink stuff for weeks.)**

**Finally - perspective. Some chapters will contain tissue warnings. This is meant to be an uplifting and romantic story - but that doesn't mean there won't be some tears - happy and sad. Think bigger picture, use the spoiler on my wordpress site if needed, and watch for tissue warnings. I have great plans for my characters and we aren't going to have kidnappings and such - but there will be some drama contained to single chapters or in one situation possibly two.**

M

Chapter 2 – Caught!

As soon as Genny left his office to use the ladies room, his hands were on the file. He had a photographic memory, but even better – and just to be sure - he had a copier in his office. Ignoring the information on the papers he just focused on copying everything he could. Both of them knew what he was doing but he would listen and be done before Genny was back in the office so she would have deniability if needed. As he copied the pages, he found himself lost in thought. Honestly, he couldn't really figure out why he didn't laugh at the woman as Pam had. Why he took the meeting. Why he cared. In truth, he'd been in a funk for almost a year now. When he first opened the bar after the reveal of vampires to the general public, his undead life was fresh again: Donors sought out vampires, Pam had returned to help with the bar, they didn't need to hide in the shadows. That excitement was short-lived though and he fallen into a state of ennui.

For years he'd been enjoying his position as Vampire Sheriff of the Shreveport and surrounding areas in Louisiana, answering only to his Queen. Since the reveal the satisfaction from running the area also dwindled. He found the vampires to be needier and the reporting to the human authorities had damn near doubled his administrative work: Work that Pam should have been handling as his second but she was proving to be quite lazy. He loved his youngest child and she was loyal but he questioned whether calling her back to open the bar together was the best action he could have taken. At first they worked well together and he was pleased, but after the bar opened, she became too fascinated by the nightly buffet and besides working the door, she did little with the bar except take fangbanger after fangbanger to her office for a feed and fuck. Eric understood that; in the beginning he enjoyed several a night sometimes but that thrill was gone quickly.

The Sheriff position also included serving as the liaison for vampire and human relations and honestly that was the only part of the job that had been going well. Instead of waiting for problems, he'd reached out to the local authorities after the announcements were made and had developed a good working relationship. Most of his human contacts in state government positions were surprised to discover that Eric Northman, owner of Viking Industries, had in fact been a vampire all along. Several of his Sheriff counterparts in the state had not reached out and as a result, when problems started – whether they were real or perceived – it became an emergency and sometimes a public emergency at that. Sophie-Anne, their Queen, had not been pleased with his fellow Sheriffs.

Thinking of the Queen had him back to thinking about the request from the boy. At the last Sheriff meeting, Sophie-Anne had made it clear that positive public relations were a priority. The donation he'd made for the MRI at Good Shepherd Hospital and the publicity at the unveiling had been cited as an example of what she wanted from her Sheriffs. So if he took this Sookie on a date, she would no doubt be pleased. Problem was, he didn't really care about the Queen's or the public's perception. Hell, he wondered if it was even fair to the boy and his mother to make it a public event.

From the hallway outside his office he could hear Genny's shoes clicking on the floor as she made her way to his door so he quickly stopped copying with only two sheets left and replaced the folder on the desk.

She collected her purse and the file then asked, "If I call you in a few days, will I get through?"

He chuckled and handed her a card. "Use the mobile number listed on this."

"Thank you Eric. Here is my card in case you have any questions."

"Give me a few days before you call?" She nodded. "I'll walk you out. I can hear that the bar has opened and there will be a long line to get in. I suggest we leave from my back door if you don't mind."

"That would be good. I don't want your child to lose her stuffy image by laughing at my expense again." They headed out the back door and towards the front parking area.

"I apologize again for that but between us, the stuffy part isn't an image, that's the real her."

When she looked up she could see the mischief in his face. "You really are not what I expected."

"Just don't tell anyone that." They rounded the side of the building and saw there was in fact a crowd gathered at the door. Some of the women started yelling Eric's name.

"You're quite popular."

"It's not all it's cracked up to be."

"I can imagine." She moved to a silver Audi. "Well, this is me. I'll call you as we discussed."

"Drive safely."

"I'm staying in town; I can't make that trip up and back in the same day. I'm too old for that Eric."

"Where are you staying?"

"The Hilton on Market Street."

"Well enjoy your evening." As soon as he got back to his office he'd call the manager and have her room comp'd. Ownership did have its privileges after all.

He stood in the parking lot watching her pull out. The calls from the fangbangers drifted into background noise as he thought to himself about the letter and he walked quickly to his office to start his research. On Genny's card was the URL for the Make a Wish foundation so he started there. A young boy requesting something for his mother was puzzling. At Fangtasia and in some of his other businesses, he didn't see people – humans – that were selfless like that. It's why he enjoyed the liaisons he had with the local authorities, specifically law enforcement. While not true 100% of the time, the very fact that many of them put their lives on the line every day for other humans earned them his respect. This boy had a similar characteristic. According to the Make a Wish group, children were granted some very exciting wishes including cruises, fully built forts and meetings with celebrities. Here this child, Hunter, was asking for a date for Mommy. The more he learned and thought about it, the more he found himself WANTING to meet this boy.

Turning to the copies he made, he started with the top, a standard looking application that was completed by Sookie Stackhouse for her child, Hunter Savoy. '_Interesting puzzle right away. Hunter's letter said there was no father, yet this Savoy must be his father's last name. That's the first thing to investigate_.' Reading on, he discovered many problems with this mother and child and he was shocked. Officially, the paperwork was signed by Denise and Mack Rattray, the legal foster parents and guardians of the boy. The next sheet was from the State, verifying that Denise and Mack Rattray were indeed the foster parents of Hunter Savoy, this was signed by Sabrina Thomas, MSW, Care Worker for the State of Louisiana. Some handwritten scrawl on this paper noted that Sookie Stackhouse was listed officially as next of kin, but was not the legal guardian. He was completely confused at this point, and only two papers into the stack. '_Didn't taking away custody from a mother mean that she was unfit? What had Sookie done that warranted losing her child?_' He wandered as he turned to the next paper. Next was a copy of Hunter's letter – which he skipped - but the paper after that had him scratching his head again. This indicated an auction, scheduled for about two weeks from now:

Contents and Personal Property Auction

50 Hummingbird Lane

Bon Temps, LA

Items include: Civil War Era silver tea set, Springfield Model 1861 rifled musket, hand sewn quilts by Adele Stackhouse.

Again, in the same scrawl as before, notes indicating that this house was owned by Sookie Stackhouse and had been sold to Furnan Developers were written on the blank spaces. On the other side of the page, another note stated all PERSONAL contents from the historical Stackhouse property to be sold at the auction. '_What does this mean, who wrote the notes?'_

It was apparent he was in need of an investigator, but for the moment, he couldn't figure out why he felt the need to pursue this. The family was a mess, putting it mildly. A knock on the door jarred him from his thoughts; it was his child so she was entering before he could respond to the knock – as usual. "What can I do for you Pam?"

"Are you planning to join us in the bar area?"

"I'm unsure. I have some paperwork to do." She raised her eyebrow suspiciously at him since he was piling up the papers on his desk – almost as if she didn't want him to see them. "Paperwork that you should be doing as my second." He added with a glare.

"Well, I've got a lot going on with the bar tonight Eric. I'm a little busy."

"Yeah, what's her name?"

Clearly not seeing or feeling that he was growing angry at her, she answered, "Who knows, but her thighs were made for snacking."

"Just get out Pam."

"What's got you in a snit?"

"Nothing you need concern yourself with – since you're soooo busy and all."

"Fine."

This time when she left, he stood and locked the door preventing any further interruptions. Yes, his child could learn something from Hunter he decided.

With a last sigh at Pam's behavior, he returned to the copied papers and flipped them over until he was back to the page he last saw. He started making notes for a private investigator: The father, legal guardian, household auction. He flipped to the next page and saw a picture. NOW he wished he'd looked at the pages when he simply fed them through the copier – it's possible the original was in color but even in black and white his heart would've stopped if it actually beat. Sookie was perfect with a big smile on her face, eyes that twinkled even in the black and white copy, and breasts, my Gods they were plentiful and showcased nicely in a simple, tight, white tee-shirt with a Merlotte's logo. '_The shifter? She works for the shifter? That's ironic. I wonder if she even knows her boss can shift into any type of animal – likely not though, shifters and werewolves and such needed to keep such information secret_.' Hugging her tightly in the picture was a young boy so he gathered this was Hunter. He looked really young, but he really hadn't dealt with children in so long, he had no idea how old he was in the picture. He was smiling, but he thought his cheeks seemed sunken in. Maybe he was just looking for clues of the illness.

The rest of the papers were notes detailing the in person meetings with Hunter, Sookie and the Rattrays. He read through them and got an understanding, at least from the Make a Wish Volunteer's perspective, that Sookie was completely in love with her son and the Rattrays were his foster parents for the monthly check. Assholes. '_What AM I doing? This is all on paper, a letter from a kid and I'm ready to kill the jerk foster parents. If the state won't let the mother keep the kid, she might be just as bad._' While he had that thought, he looked back at the picture and dismissed it. He couldn't imagine she had done anything to justify removing her as the child's legal parent. Instead of torturing himself, he picked up the phone. "Mustapha, I've got a job for you. Come to the back door."

"Fifteen minutes." And with that conversation complete, they each hung up.

While he waited, he did a quick internet search on Sookie Stackhouse and Merlotte's. He found nothing except notations of her being linked to pictures on the Merlotte's Facebook page. Finally, he saw her in color and he wasn't any less impressed. If he had to pick a type, Sookie Stackhouse was it. One of the pictures online showed her standing and she had that sexy hourglass figure that he found most appealing. Her hair was blond and while most of the pictures showed it up in a ponytail for work, one had it down and it tumbled onto her shoulders in loose curls. He decided a date with Miss Stackhouse wouldn't be a hardship at all.

Mustapha arrived and he set him on his tasks, the immediate request being the hospital room number for the boy. Depending on the room, he could do a 'fly by' later before dawn.

After completing some Sheriff paperwork, he went out to check on the bar. It was pretty busy for a weekday and as soon as he was out of the hallway leading to the offices, the fangbanger squeals started. If he had to admit it, he DID enjoy this the first month, OK maybe the first three months, but now it was actually a bore. These fangbangers, as they'd been dubbed by pop culture, were typically overly perfumed, underfed, and frequently drunk or high. For almost a year now, he chose bagged blood most of the time for his needs. He walked to the front to check on his child and found Ginger working the door. Out of unfortunate necessity, Ginger had been glamoured so many times he didn't think she was capable of dressing herself; she certainly shouldn't be working the door and reading driver's licenses. At the very least, she wasn't strong enough to break up any problems that often occurred at the door. He left to find Pam. Her office was empty so he stopped and checked out their blood bond. Being maker and child tied them together enabling him to feel her – both moods and locations. Well, he determined she was fucking and downstairs. The lower level was for VAMPIRES only and Pam knew this. He flew down the stairs in search of his child and found her with a HUMAN fangbanger. Using chains they had in place for securing vampires when needed, the human was tied to the wall while Pam ate her out. "PAMELA! Människor är inte tillåtet här nere. Vad tror du att du gör?!" (Humans are NOT permitted down here. What do you think you are doing?)

"Master, mitt kontor saknade den nödvändiga utrustningen för min underhållning ikväll. Du förstår, Maudette här uttryckt intresse för att vara bunden av en vampyr. Vem är jag att neka henne?" (My office lacked the necessary equipment for my entertainment tonight. You see, Maudette here expressed an interest in being tied up by a vampire. Who am I to deny her?) Using Master usually soothed Eric, so she chose that title specifically. That didn't work tonight.

"You should be working the door."

"Ginger is cov . . ."

"Remove this human, glamour her and get your ass back to the door."

"Eric, I haven't fed yet."

"I have not needed to punish you for years, but your behavior is having me rethink that. Say one more word and you WILL regret it."

Pam was quiet. She finally caught onto his anger and realized she had better do as he asked. Later, when he calmed, she would ask who shoved the stick up his ass. Clearly now was not the time for that. "Yes Master."

'_GODS! When did respect, decency and pulling your own weight become so hard for others? First they discovered their third partner in the bar, Longshadow, had been skimming money for himself, now he could't get his own child to do a decent night's work._' He went back to his office to look at the pictures of Sookie and hoped that Mustapha found some good news. He really didn't want to find out she was a pedophile or some other horrible reason that had her legally separated from her son.

OOOoooOOOooo

A text from Mustapha jarred Eric from his downtime.

M: Room 345 and I have some preliminary information.

E: Forward via email

After a moment, a final text came from Mustapha

M: Sent

It was almost 4AM and he could hear the cleaning crew going through the bar. He was torn between the email and the fly-by but in the end, decided on a fly-by on his way home; then reading the email at home since he could stay up about an hour after dawn and read the email – but he sure as hell couldn't fly once the sun rose. After a quick check online at the hospital floor plan, he determined his flight path for his fly-by, secured his laptop in a backpack and took off from the parking lot towards the hospital. Sure, he was leaving his precious Corvette in the parking lot but he'd done it before. The license plate alone, BLDSKR5, probably made it safe; it did advertise that he was a vampire after all. He circled the hospital towards the back as the floor plan he'd checked out showed that's where Hunter's room was located. He flew by three windows wondering how the hospital thought any patients could sleep with the lights on before he knew he'd found the right one. In the bed was a very small boy with his eyes closed. Since this seemed to be the children's ward, it wasn't the first young boy he'd seen, but it was the other person in the room that gave it away. Sleeping and bent over with part of her torso and head on the bed by the boys legs was Sookie. He'd studied her pictures enough to recognize the profile – though the body was very different: Almost emaciated. From what he'd overheard, stress could cause weight loss. He'd need to remedy that quickly. He liked the handlebar hips he'd seen in the pictures. He MAY have even printed one and put it in his wallet. MAY have. Staring at her sleeping form, he lingered until he had an Oh Shit Moment. At detecting movement at the head of the bed, he scanned up from Sookie. The boy's eyes were opened and he was waving and smiling. He couldn't resist; he waved back then called himself and idiot immediately. Unsure of how to handle the whole situation, he sped off towards home. Why did he feel like the kid that got his hand caught in the honey pot?

Once settled in his light tight chamber at home, he booted his PC, anxious to learn more about the boy and his mother. Mustapha had summarized his findings in a bullet format, Eric's preference:

_Eric:_

_Information obtained so far via (mostly) public records. No interviews yet. _

Eric smirked. Mustapha either was or had access to a hacker and was able to get into most 'secure' systems at will_. _

_*Hunter Savoy was born to H. Hale (per the birth certificate) and Remy Savoy._

_*No H. Hale exists in the area that I could find; apparently she walked in off the street and had the baby. I can't understand how she got away with a fake ID for that long though._

_*Hunter was premature, so he stayed in the hospital for almost two months. Birth mother discharged him at that time. _

_*Father killed about a month after the birth; unsolved murder_

_*Short hospital stays started when the child was about 6 months old. At that time, he was brought in by Sookie Stackhouse, and she listed herself as mother on the registration forms. Medical problems are kidney and heart related. Prognosis: Terminal, 1-2 years left to live._

_*I did find an Adele Stackhouse nee Hale, the now deceased grandmother to Sookie Stackhouse. They lived together in the Bon Temps house on Hummingbird lane. This was also Hunter's address for a while._

_*The property was sold to Furnan Developers. The contents are to be sold separately via auction as you have seen on the flyer._

_*All profits for the house were used to pay down the medical bills for this child Hunter. _

_*I'm trying to piece this together, and I will likely need to do some interviews, but the money problems appear to the root of the reason why Sookie is not the legal guardian or adoptive parent for the boy. She's still in debt for his hospitalizations even after turning over everything from the house. _

_*At this point, Sookie Stackhouse owns a car and has her mail delivered C/O the Bon Temps post office. I can't find an actual address._

_*The state took custody of the boy and he is now on Medicaid, hence the move to the Parish hospital. Medicaid is beyond the normal health coverage for children in the foster system, the child just exceeded the resources available via the standard ACCESS card and plan._

_*The Rattrays receive a stipend of $458 a month for the care of Hunter. With his hospitalizations, he was in their home a total of 30 days since last year then they took custody. Home is in the Four Tracks Corner trailer park._

_I will continue with interviews as I can tomorrow. I suspect there are significant back stories to just about all of the information I have found and we may need to consider assistance via vampire glamour to pull the information needed. I will have a follow-up report for you at your first dark._

_Mustapha_

Eric wanted to kill something. The lack of information was frustrating, but what he did know was infuriating. From what he could gather, Sookie took this child in, lost all her money trying to care for him, lost her property, lost everything but the boy she apparently loved. In return, the state yanked him from her, giving funds to trailer trash (literally) who got paid for nothing. Again, he asked himself what he was doing, possibly making up stories and getting worked up over a woman he'd never met. The pull to rest finally came and put him out of his misery.

OOOoooOOOooo

"Oooh, flying? That was some dream Hunter."

"Mommy! You're supposed to stay out of my head 'til my surprise wish happens."

"SORRY! You're right." Since he'd finished his lunch she removed his tray and fussed at his covers for another minute until she was satisfied with how he was bundled in.

"Mommy, I leave for dialysis in a few minutes, they're just going to unbundle me when I get there."

"I know, but I want you to be warm for the ride down." She continued to fuss around the room, filling a bag with the items he would need for dialysis. She added his portable DVD player, a gift from Hoyt, and asked, "What movies?"

"Tangled and" There was a delay while he thought. "Ice Age – the 2nd one." She laughed to herself. He always picked Tangled and something else. Yes, her boy loved the Disney Princess movie but it wasn't one of the damsels in distress ones, well yes she did get help out of the tower, but she could kick butt with her frying pan. It wasn't the princess part that captured Hunter's attention, it was her plight. In the story, Rapunzel was locked away from the world, just like Hunter. He wished someone would come get him from his tower – in this case his body that kept him from life. How was she sure about this? Well, she and Hunter were telepaths - they read minds. This was a huge secret that Sookie and Hunter had managed to keep from the hospital staff, his idiot foster parents and the state's case worker. Telepathy was how she knew he dreamed about a flying vampire (or she thought it was a dream), it's how she knew the doctors had bad news before they even opened their mouths, it's also how she knew his foster parents, the Rattrays, and Hunter's case worker, Sabrina Thomas were robbing the foster system.

"OK, your bag is packed, and here comes Jeremy to move you down now." She turned to the large man who had entered the room. "Hi Jeremy you doing well?"

"Doing great Sookie. Hiya Hunt. How's everybody today?"

Sookie answered the dialysis technician. "Good Jeremy." She kissed Hunter on the forehead. "Ok baby boy, I'll see you in a few hours."

"Tell Gramma I said HI!"

Hunter was being backed out of the room, so she continued to wave to him as long as she could before she collected her things. With a big sigh, she left the hospital room, waved later to the nurses and other floor staff and headed out to her car. Today, it actually started on the first try and she drove towards Bon Temps. The radio had long since broken in the car, leaving Sookie to her thoughts. Hunter wasn't bouncing back from the fall he had, his heart was wearing out. While she'd been told he had 1-2 years to live, she felt his problems were progressing faster than they originally assessed. She didn't want to think about it but that didn't change the fact that they had less time than anyone originally thought. One of Hunter's 'bucket list' requests was that Sookie officially adopt him before he died. With the financial problems and a case worker focused on her ability to swindle money from the state, Sookie feared her adoption would never go through. Hell, she had no address, no money except for the small pay and cash she earned as tips when she did work; in short she had NOTHING to offer Hunter as a parent. Bon Temps had rallied around her and Gran when they took Hunter in and she just couldn't stomach asking for more but her boy's desire tugged at her heart. '_I'll see how the auction goes and determine my next steps from there. That's only a few days away._' Wanting to think about anything else, she focused on what she'd read from Hoyt's mind the other day – he was just about ready to pop the question to Jessica. That was a more pleasant train of thought. Almost two hours later, she pulled up to Maxine Fortenberry's house and grabbed her laundry and the groceries she'd purchased. "Hiya Sookie, come on in." Maxine called from the porch.

"Hey Maxine. How you been feeling?"

"I had me a good weekend. Jessica and Hoyt took me to brunch after church yesterday."

"Yeah, they said they were planning to do that." Sookie looked at Maxine with a big smile. "So do you think Jessica is the one?"

"I hope so Sookie. They been datin' almost two years, friends b'fore that." Maxine watched her put her bags down on the kitchen counter. "Whatcha cookin' today?"

"Chicken noodle soup. Hunter really likes that."

"He's a lucky boy, you cooking for him even though the hospital gives him three squares."

"He hates their renal diet food. I don't blame them, they don't have the capacity to do anything but remove the stuff he shouldn't have; you know that."

"I know, but he's still lucky to have ya." Sookie gave her a quick hug and went to grab the laundry to start washing but Maxine stopped her. "I'll put this in. You go start cookin'."

"Thanks Maxine."

Sookie went to the kitchen and started the soup for her boy. Once the chicken was in the pot to start the broth, she went through the mail she'd picked up on the way. Of course, it offered nothing more than the usual bills from the hospital, the individual doctor's offices and the medical supply store. Hopefully the auction for the contents of the house would help get these collectors off her back. She simply put them in her purse and started peeling the carrots. Her mind wandered as she cooked; she knew why Maxine grabbed the laundry - she'd done this a few times before. Knowing or thinking that Sookie would refuse the purchases outright, Maxine would sneak in new bras, panties or socks while she washed her clothes. Given their circumstances, Sookie was forced to take the help – something that she had to concede to on many things lately. To even things out, Sookie did some housecleaning for Maxine in between her cooking and laundry duties – it helped ease her mind some. At least Sookie kept mostly dresses when she moved out of the house, none of her jeans would've stayed up over her rapidly slimming form.

Maxine startled her out of her thinking. "How's your baby today?"

"Same. We're still on the donor lists."

"Whole town is praying for ya'."

"Yeah, Reverend Collins stopped by after Sunday services."

"That's nice dear. Ya need any help in the kitchen?"

"No Maxine. I'm sure you want to watch your stories."

A few minutes later she heard the voices from Maxine's show. While she cooked she thought of her friends: Maxine and her son Hoyt had truly been her heroes these past years and she wanted them to be happy. She was so pleased when Hoyt finally asked Jessica to go out after being friends and pining for her for so long. She knew he was smitten long before their first date. Maybe she would mention something about getting a move on to Hoyt – try to push him to pop the question. She knew he had the ring. Certainly after dating for two years, Jessica was probably thinking it was time. Since she heard Maxine snoring, she knew she could turn up her the radio. Before long, she was dancing around the kitchen while she cooked, trying to enjoy this tiny respite in her and her baby boy's schedule.

Two hours later she was putting the soup into the containers she'd brought so she could keep some in the hospital refrigerator. As she always did, she left a container for Hoyt and his Momma, though they kept telling her to stop. For Sookie, it one of the only ways to give back to the family that had helped her so much since Gran died. After getting her laundry in the car she hugged Gramma Fortenberry from Hunter and headed back to her baby boy.

OOOoooOOOooo

"Any update Mustapha?"

"I've started doing some interviews, but nothing concrete. I should have a full report shortly."

"Very well. Anything I should know right away? Did Sookie do something to have her lose custody beyond the money problems?"

"It looks like it was all about debt to the hospital. I've found nothing that indicates she abused or neglected the boy."

"That's a relief. Thank you. I'll be out of town for about two days; we can connect when I return."

He hung up the phone and used his blood bond to call his child. She knew he was still angry at her for something, so she was on her best behavior when she entered his office. "Yes Master?"

"I'm off to New Orleans for the quarterly sheriff's meeting. I don't want any problems at the bar while I'm gone."

"Master, of course I'll take care of everything here."

"Like you prepared all my reports for this meeting?"

"YOU are the Sheriff."

"And YOU are my SECOND, a paid position in the state. Start earning it Pamela or I will find another second."

"You don't have to get snippy about it."

"Pamela, I've been discussing this with you for a few months now. It seems that I DO need to get snippy. I'm heading out now."

"Fine." She stood angrily with her arms folded across her chest.

He kissed her forehead and spoke to her as he left. "I love you very much Pam, but this behavior is becoming intolerable. Please think about it while I'm gone."

"Yes Master." At least she had the decency to look down.

The weather had cooperated and he had a nice drive down to New Orleans. So lost in his thoughts about Sookie and Hunter, he didn't even realize he hadn't turned on music for the entire trip. Even with a few hours to focus, he still couldn't explain the draw to them. He was certainly happy that his instincts about her parenting were correct. That beautiful woman loved the boy and it was other circumstances that had them separated – well legally separated.

When he arrived at his New Orleans residence, he cursed Bobby Burnham, his dayman. Bobby knew the meeting schedule for New Orleans, yet it was quite evident that he hadn't come down early enough to fully prepare his home for arrival. Fresh bloods should have been in the refrigerator; they were NOT. His suit, pressed for the meeting, should be hanging on the back of his closet door for tomorrow night; it was NOT. The only thing that had been done was the prep to his office. Eric knew that dust would accumulate while he was gone in between meetings, and he wasn't a stickler about that – except for his office. Maybe Bobby and Pam were hanging out too often? He was so pissed; he woke Bobby from his nighttime sleep to 'instruct' him on the house preparations.

"Master? Why are you waking me?"

"It's Sir or Mr. Northman – you know how I hate it when you call me Master."

"Yes sir. Why are you waking me?"

"You did not finish your tasks for my arrival."

"I got down here too late yesterday to get those things done."

"Well, get up and get them done now."

"NOW?"

"YES – there is an all night dry cleaners and I know you can get blood from our sources anytime – day or night. Get going."

"But's its 3AM."

"NOT MY PROBLEM!"

"Yes Master, I mean sir."

Eric was so frustrated; he pinched the bridge of his nose and finally decided to stop talking to the nuisance that was his dayman. '_I've really got to convince Mustapha to leave his business. He's far superior to this idiot_.' He left Bobby to get his work done and went to his office to finish his prep work for the Sheriff meeting that would start right after first dark tomorrow night. He really hated all this vampire shit anymore.


	3. I don't wanna

**A post for MAW? Well I do have the day off. We're about to visit Longwood Gardens and since I'm ready and everyone else is not - you guys get a chapter.**

**I've added tissue warnings to the chapter - hope it's accurate.**

**Final chapter of BVB will be up in a few days (I'm having trouble letting go).**

**~mags**

Chapter 3 – I don't wanna

Tissue warning = 1

Eric returned to Shreveport after being stuck in New Orleans for several days longer than intended. The Great Reveal of vampires to the human population had been a necessity due to technology strides in surveillance. In addition to responding to the need to reveal, Eric was pleased with the opportunity to live in the open so he was a proponent for the decision. Had he known about the Godsdamn paperwork involved, he might have changed his mind. Human authorities were overly interested in tracking vampires since the reveal. That administrative work was passed to the Sheriffs. Learning about the new reports that were now due to humans on a quarterly basis was taking longer than expected extending his trip. Part of the problem was the software program being used for the report. He couldn't believe Stefan, one of the Louisiana Sheriffs, and the Queen's second, Andre, were so behind on technology that they spent two nights going over basics for just the two of them. '_Fantastic_.' Eric thought as they reviewed the requirements and the software that was being implemented for the reporting. Yesterday morning, before the sun rose, he called Pam to give her an update and clearly informed her that this new reporting would be HER responsibility after they did the first quarter together. She immediately whined about the fact that Eric's meeting had taken him from the bar over the weekend – their busiest time and that his request was going to be too much responsibility for her. Eric literally hung up on her; then canceled all her credit cards. The limits of his patience were being tested and he had no distraction from her tantrums and attitude since he'd told Mustapha NOT to send him any updates until he returned. He felt the need to keep his focus on these meetings and his interest in Hunter and Sookie was too much of a distraction. Of course, that didn't keep him from checking out the picture in his wallet every once and a while.

He pulled into his driveway with just enough time for a fly-by at the hospital since he felt he'd earned the check-in. Like the other night, when he flew to the window, Sookie was asleep with Hunter but this time she'd squeezed herself onto the bed and she looked slightly more comfortable that way. Also like the other night, for some reason, his presence had awakened the boy and he found himself giving a smile and a wave before making the 'shh signal' with his finger over his mouth. He flew away, barely making it back to his house before the sun rose, sent a note to Mustapha telling him he was back and ready for a report when he woke for the night, and went to bed for the day early. His frustration at his life was becoming too much to bear. '_Maybe this lack of desire for all things vampire_.' He thought '_was why some older vampires met the sun. Or perhaps, they too had a frustrating child like Pam and meeting the sun became the only option. At least I have this little family to distract me._' His thoughts reminded him that he did have that picture in his wallet so he pulled it out and went to rest with it in his hand.

OOOoooOOOooo

It was Monday, so after Sookie saw Hunter off to his dialysis, she headed to Maxine's for laundry and cooking duty. She'd found a recipe for chicken and biscuit casserole that met Hunter's renal diet requirements and was excited to check it out. On her way, she stopped at the local market for her ingredients and chatted with a few friends while she was there. It was nice to catch-up but honestly, her life was so different than anyone in Bon Temps could imagine it was hard to make a connection to some folks anymore. As she loaded the trunk of her rusted out Nova, she heard the beginnings of a fight brewing behind her. Both voices in the fight she recognized: Her lovely brother Jason and his co-worker Hoyt.

"Jason! Just leave her be man. You know she's only got so much time before she needs to be back to the hospital."

"Ain't my problem Hoyt. You need to stop sticking up for her sorry ass too."

When she turned to look, Jason was walking towards her very quickly with Hoyt trying to catch up. She ran for the driver's door and got in the car with the door shut, but not before he made it to the window and started smacking at it for her to open up. Ignoring her kin as best she could, she started the car and backed out while he screamed obscenities at her the whole time but she made it out of the parking lot. The road crew her brother supervised was working on the street in front of the store, which explained why Jason was there in the middle of the day. '_Thank God Hoyt slowed him down. I don't have the energy for a Jason confrontation._' She thought to herself.

When she made it to Maxine's she was still shaking from the situation and in her mother mode, Maxine came out to help her out of the car with the groceries. When Sookie went to retrieve her laundry, Maxine finally spoke. "Hoyt called me. You stay put and relax a minute honey. If you don't get your wash done before you have to go back, I'll finish it and Hoyt will drive it to you."

"Maxine, why does he need to do that?" The tears that had been threatening finally spilled over.

The older woman moved to sit beside Sookie and embraced her. "Sookie, I don't know. Hoyt's tried talking some sense into him, but nothing ever gets through. You have us, just focus on that. You just let it all out now, I've got you."

Sookie did let it all out and she felt better after a few minutes. When she'd calmed enough to speak, she thanked the woman who had been her lifeline for a while now. "I can't tell you how much I appreciate how you and Hoyt and Jessica have stepped in since Gran died."

"Your Gran was my best friend. She agreed with your decision to take in Hunter. This is what she would have wanted, and more importantly, I'm glad to help you honey. I wish we could do more."

"I know better. You didn't just support me 'cause Gran did. You always THOUGHT I was doing the right thing."

"I guess you would know bein' a mind reader and all."

"Well, my pity party is over. I have a new recipe I want to try."

"Do you need any help?" Sookie appreciated that she always asked, but she already did so much for her and besides, Sookie enjoyed the time in the kitchen with her music.

"No Maxine. You watch your stories."

As usual, she heard the snoring coming from the living room when she returned from the laundry room so Sookie turned on her music and started making the sauce for the casserole. Another two hours later, she was putting the casserole into storage containers when the phone rang. Since Maxine was still asleep, she answered. "Fortenberry residence."

"Sookie," She recognized Hoyt's voice right away. "The hospital called. It's Hunter." She didn't bother with saying goodbye. She left everything where it was and sped out of Bon Temps.

OOOoooOOOooo

Eric rose about an hour before sunset and when he looked down, he remembered going to rest with their picture and decided he liked rising and seeing them so much that a framed picture on his nightstand was in order. Having decided that, he started his internal debate immediately: '_Why am I so damn interested in this woman and her son?_' Rather than worrying about an answer, he remembered to boot his PC so he could get the update from Mustapha. After looking just at the length of the note, he figured Mustapha had been a busy boy. He really wished the investigator would give up his current job and agree to be his dayman. Bobby was proving to be pathetic in so many ways. So far, nothing could entice Mustapha from giving up 'being his own boss' as the man said.

He decided on a shower first since he had a feeling that after he read through the lengthy update he might want to do another fly-by. After all, he'd already been seen twice. How much damage could another appearance do? As a bonus, tonight was Monday and Fangtasia was closed, so he had plenty of time to himself before he had some Sheriff meetings scheduled for midnight.

Selecting all black for his outfit to help him blend in, he dressed, fed and was at his PC with about thirty minutes until the sun set. Out of character for Mustapha, he had an unusually long introduction before his bullet point summary which had Eric curious.

_Eric,_

_I normally report just the facts to you and I realize that is my job. For this situation, however, I find it necessary to offer some perspective or input about the facts. I realize this is NOT my job, but perhaps as you read through what I discovered, you will understand. What this mother and child have endured; what the mother gave up – will surprise you. I believe there is something illegal or at the very least immoral about the Rattrays being foster parents and I'm more than willing to go the extra mile to assist with that situation, even bringing in local authorities if needed. We should discuss this thoroughly before we act though, as their sudden absence could bring even more hurt to this family I've been investigating for you. I'll express why I have these concerns as part of my bullet summary below._

_For further investigation, I do believe I need the use of some vampire glamour, so I just need your permission to call Pam and request her services._

_*Sookie is homeless. The nurses on the floor where Hunter is all turn a blind eye to the fact that she sleeps on the side of his bed and uses the patient's shower for her own needs. She had to sell her family property – in the family for generations – to pay down the hospital debt for Hunter. She keeps her clothing and anything else she really treasured from the house in her car._

_*Before she used the sale of the house to pay down a good chunk of the almost $500K hospital bill, Good Shepherd Hospital refused to treat Hunter and she started taking him to the Parish hospital. Things spiraled for the two then. There are more bills as well, but the hospital is the largest one._

_*Parish services were brought in due to the financial hardship and a social worker was assigned. While this was happening, Sookie concluded the sale of the house – effectively leaving her homeless as I mentioned above (though they had been staying with friends as needed). _

_*Once the state learned of her homeless situation they investigated further. Since H. Hale never legally turned over guardianship of Hunter to Sookie, he was taken into custody and the Rattrays were put into place. _

_*Sookie applied to adopt or foster Hunter and both applications were denied immediately since she works only on average 2 times a week at a local bar (see below) and has no permanent address._

_* In addition to the bill from the hospital, the individual doctors who treated Hunter also have collector's hounding Sookie for their outstanding invoices. Those total almost $175K. One Doctor, Maria __**Tennily waived her fees.**_

_*The Rattrays do one thing that's good: When Hunter is out of the hospital; Sookie is invited to stay with them. While that seems charitable, it's only because Sookie takes on all care for the boy while he's home – even arranging for sitters when she leaves to work. She is also responsible for his transport to and from dialysis on these days. _

_*Interesting information: The Rattrays foster a second child, also mostly in the hospital and with the same case worker as Hunter. I believe we are looking at fraud here. But if Hunter gets another foster family, they might not allow Sookie visitation. The Rattrays are a potential glamour candidate._

_*While Hunter is in dialysis due to his kidney problems two of those days Sookie goes to the home of Maxine Fortenberry to do her laundry and cook special renal diet foods for the boy (the hospital provides the right nutrition, but nothing flavorful). On the third dialysis day, Fridays, she leaves Hunter early and goes to Merlotte's Bar and Grill to work the lunch shift. If you want to investigate further, I would suggest some glamour of this Maxine._

_*She works one other shift at the bar on Saturday nights when Hoyt Fortenberry and his girlfriend, Jessica Hamby, come and sit with Hunter. Except for Saturday nights, his dialysis (where she is not permitted) and other medical procedures, Sookie doesn't leave the boy alone. She does all his bathing and other personal care; the nurses need only administer medications. _

_*I did find some records from the satellite campus of LSU. Sookie was enrolled to earn a degree in English Literature before all this started. She was going on an academic scholarship awarded by the university._

_*Sookie does have a brother in Bon Temps: A Jason Stackhouse who works for the Parish as a supervisor for the road crew. From what I learned, he's pretty much disowned her since she took on the care of the infant. The reasons and details are unknown to me, and this is where glamour could also assist. I do know, since I found two police reports, that Jason got violent against Sookie after the grandmother died and again the day the property was sold. Sookie decided not to press charges after both incidents._

_*The town does help where they can. Her church has held baked goods fundraisers every month to help with the medical costs and most of the town has participated. The local funeral director buried her grandmother when she passed at no cost. My guess is there are more examples, but without more in depth interviews or glamour, we won't know more. _

_That summarizes what I found so far. What I didn't find was any evidence that there is a scheme going on to meet you or swindle you in any way. A nurse I spoke to told me that the boy met with the Make a Wish representative alone, specifically requesting that his wish be a surprise for his Mommy. If that's your only concern, then you should be fine. If you do choose not to follow-up in any way, please just let me know as I feel the need to do something for this family and will take that on myself if you are no longer interested. NOTE: I told the nurse I was investigating regarding the wish Hunter requested, so she promised me confidentiality. That won't work on most contacts, so again, please advise on the glamour._

_I've attached some photos I came across during my research._

_Mustapha_

_PS: No charge for this one._

Stunned. Eric was stunned at the information he just read. It sounded like some horrible soap opera (he only knew what they were due to Pam's fascination for them in the 80's). Thinking over the facts from the bottom of the list up, his first desire was to go and kill this Jason Stackhouse. He wasn't sure about the reasons for disowning family or the violence, but from Eric's human history that was unacceptable. The men of the family cared for the women – no excuses.

He took a moment to pull up the pictures and while he enjoyed several – even printed them for safekeeping - there was one that was just haunting. Somehow Mustapha found a candid shot of Sookie on the front porch of her house, a 'sold' sign off to the side. She had her hand on the porch rail, almost like she was caressing it. Her eyes were what killed him; those showed a woman defeated. Yet at the same time her posture showed her pride. Her shoulders were back, her stance tall, well tall for someone who looked at least 10 inches shorter than him in flats. He went back to the descriptions Mustapha wrote for each picture and saw that this was taken by the local paper for an announcement they did on the sale of the property. As it had been in the family for generations, it was big news. This candid hadn't been used with the article, but still was saved on the servers among the newspaper's other images.

Seeing her sadness at giving up her home brought him back to her sacrifices. Now he knew where the boy had learned his selflessness. His mother – not even his biological mother – gave up everything for him. He should force Pam to volunteer her services as laundress and cook for them – except that would be like a punishment to Sookie and her son. Gods knew he didn't want to spend time with his youngest child these days. He loved her, but he didn't like her right now. Yes, things had started to change with Pam just after the reveal of vampires to the world. Thinking about Pam had him deciding one thing for sure. Pam wouldn't be part of anything he was doing with the investigation or possible date with Sookie. Pam wouldn't understand his interest – he hardly understood it himself – and he didn't want his child anywhere near this woman who appeared to be like an angel on earth. An angel, he decided right then and there, he would help.

Once he thought it through, he responded to Mustapha:

_Mustapha:_

_I will be following up on this family with your help since you are so inclined. Firstly, do not call Pam about the glamour; another vampire in my retinue will assist you. Expect to hear from Indira within the week. I agree: Jason and Maxine should be glamoured. Hold off on anyone else until we find additional evidence. Determine if the case worker has other children in her docket also hospitalized. Has she had any additional funds added to a bank account, that sort of thing. We'll gather evidence, but don't call the authorities at this time. I will work with Bobby to acquire the contents of the Stackhouse property. _

_Eric_

_PS: Invoice me as usual. Save your money for the monthly baked goods fundraiser. _

When he finished with the emails it was after sunset and he really wanted the fly by so he could see the angel and her boy. When he reached the window, he was shocked. The boy was hooked up to multiple wires, wires that weren't there just last night and his mother was bent over the bed sobbing. A nurse walked in while he was watching the room in horror, trying to figure out what to do. Something in his chest hurt, like his heart was being squeezed and he couldn't recall having such a feeling for many years – possibly, if he thought about it, he hadn't felt if for almost a thousand years. He moved out of the line of sight from everyone in the room but still able to hear and waited to hear anything that would tell him what happened.

OOOoooOOOooo

Sookie raced from Bon Temps back to the Shreveport Parish hospital. By the time she got to the hospital Jessica was already there waiting for her. "Hoyt called me." They embraced for a moment then hurried towards Hunter's floor.

Sookie spoke as they walked quickly. "Jessica thanks for being here."

"Sookie, over here." A nurse called out and she quickly explained when they reached the desk. "He's stable now. His heart stopped again and they stopped dialysis. He should wake up shortly. The doctor called the Rats and I listened in. He's decided to change some of Hunter's medications. The downside is . . . it's going to slow him down more; he'll have even less energy. He's probably going to be in bed most of the time now while he adjusts to the meds. His tolerance to the drug could improve in time."

"God, how can he have less energy than he does now?"

"I'm sorry Sookie. I . . . I'm just so sorry."

"Come on Sook, let's go to his room."

"Ok Jessica."

She thought she would be prepared to see her baby hooked to everything, pale and unconscious after seeing him this way before, but she wasn't. She never was. Moving to her usual spot on the side of the bed, she half laid over him and started her crying. So lost in her grief, she had no idea that a vampire had flown to the window and was now watching.

She stayed like that for almost twenty minutes before the nurse came in to take execute the doctor's latest instructions. "Sookie." The nurse called. "Sookie, I need to check him; I need some room."

Unable to speak, she just moved for the nurse. Sookie watched and Eric listened as the nurse did her work and removed the IV and the some of the wires from the boy's chest.

"He's doing well now. His BP and heart rate are good."

"When will he wake up?"

"Soon. I just removed the IV with the sedative. The doctor committed to coming in tomorrow to review the new medication with him – he knows you'll be in the room."

Grabbing a pen and paper, Sookie asked, "Can you tell me the name of the drug again, so I can research it?"

"Zenopriopyl."

Sookie wrote it down, and Eric made a note of it himself so he could research it later. "Thanks. Who was with him? Why the sedative?"

"Jeremy was with him and from what I understand that even when they got his heart started again – and quickly – he panicked and they needed to get him calm."

"My poor baby. And I wasn't here." She started weeping again.

The nurse patted the distraught mother. "Sookie, you aren't permitted into the dialysis area anyway. You can't blame yourself for the few hours a week you are away from his side. Hoyt called you immediately, right?"

"But I was an hour away."

"Cooking for him and doing your own laundry."

Sookie bolted up. "OH GOD! I left it all there. I need to call Hoyt."

Jessica who'd been quiet for a while chimed in. "It's all taken care of. Hoyt's on his way."

"What would I do without you guys?"

"Hush now. Let's get your face cleaned up before your baby wakes."

The nurse bid Sookie goodnight and Eric heard the two women move to the bathroom so he took a moment to look in again at the boy before taking off. _'I'll need to find a way to get clued into what's happening in the hospital. Something horrible happened today and I fear if I don't act soon, I will be too late'_. As soon as he heard the bathroom door open, indicating the women were coming out, he took off and headed to Fangtasia. He didn't need to go in so early, but he needed to think and do some research.

He landed at Fangtasia and entered his office to complete his first task: Looking up this drug. What he found scared him. This was a medication was intended to regulate spikes in the heart rate. He didn't understand all of the information, but the net net was it would make the child more lethargic going forward and he believed it was given out of serious concern to the stability of the boy's heart.

Instead of focusing on the medical bits that he couldn't easily fix, he started acting on the tangible things he could by calling Bobby. "Burnham."

"Yes Master."

Eric rolled his eyes. "Just Mr. Northman or even Eric, don't call me Master."

"But Pam said. . . "

"I already told you to ignore that, and I'm over her on your management chain. Now, I have a task for you, are you ready to discuss it?"

"Yes sir."

"There's an auction for personal property in Bon Temps, LA – it's a house on Hummingbird lane. I need a few things related to this. Gather several different resources and have them bid on everything. They need to take turns winning the items. I want it all – I don't care about the cost. Once you settle with the auctioneer, have it all boxed and moved to a storage unit. I also want a private appointment before the auction to peruse the contents."

"Certainly. You said to buy it all, but you may change your mind after your private viewing?"

"I want it all AND the viewing. One doesn't alter the other."

"Can I schedule your appointment for any night?"

"Yes, if you get the appointment, I'll be there. I don't even want the auctioneer to stay. When I say private, I mean private."

"Yes, I understand."

"Bobby, I mean it, don't screw this up. If one item is sold to anyone else, I'll consider it a failure on your part. Cost is not a problem, so there can be no excuses."

"I understand."

OOOoooOOOooo

Hunter woke about an hour after the IV had been removed from his arm. At this point, Hoyt had arrived with Gramma Fortenberry. Jessica was still in the room too. Sookie smiled from the side of his bed. "Hi baby. You feeling better?"

"Yes Mommy, just really tired. Why's everybody here?"

"Uncle Hoyt called me from work when the hospital called him. Turns out I left my clothes in the dryer so he had to drive them over. Can you believe that? Silly Mommy."

Maxine cut in. "And since Hoyt was coming over anyway, I hitched a ride so I could see my grandbaby. It's been days since I gave you kisses." She leaned in and peppered his face with kisses – it was kind of their thing and Hunter giggled. "OH!" Maxine exclaimed, "Even better than I remember."

"Goofy Gramma."

Sookie watched the exchange and it warmed her heart. Truth was she always respected that Gran's best friend was Maxine, but she had moments that drove Sookie nuts as she was growing up. In High School, before the 'JB' incident; Maxine was obsessed with fixing up Hoyt and Sookie – something neither of them wanted since they'd grown up as friends – in a brother / sister way. When Sookie got her scholarship for college, Maxine even went so far as to tell Sookie to keep a lid on her outbursts. Sookie recognized that when she was younger, she had very little control discerning between thoughts and spoken words from those around her. But with her Gran's help, she was able to build shields and more importantly, hold her tongue. That hadn't been a problem for her in a while so she was unsure why the woman chose to remind her about her youth again. Still, even with her sometimes insensitive history, Maxine had more than stepped up the plate to care for both of them, something she and Hunter desperately needed after Gran died.

Sookie interrupted their game. "Hunter, are you ready to eat? I made a new recipe today."

"Maybe just a little. I'm really tired."

With a sigh, Sookie decided there was no time like the present to tell Hunter about his new medication. "Well baby, that's the thing. You're on a new medication to help with these heart problems and it's going to make you very tired. You'll likely want to stay in bed most of the time now."

"What about when Heidi comes to play with me?" Heidi was a physical therapist, and had been helping Hunter gain strength after a fall he'd had a few months ago. It was the reason for the lengthy hospital stay.

"I don't know. She comes tomorrow morning, we'll talk to her."

"I don't wanna."

"You don't want to talk to her?"

"No, I don't wanna take this medication. I'd rather move around more."

"Baby, let's just try this and see how it goes. Maybe it will help . . ."

"Mommy, they're never going to do a transplant. You know that. It's not going to just give me time til one is available. I'd rather be happy and spend time with the other kids when I can rather than just laying around in bed all day. I want to be able to go to the playroom with my friends. Please."

Sookie was sobbing now and Maxine grabbed her hand. As usual, Hoyt left the room. It wasn't hurtful but he just couldn't handle it when the discussions lead to Hunter referring to his death. It was just too damn painful. Sookie begged for time. "How about this? You have that wish you requested." Hunter's eyes narrowed. "I'm not listening, I promised. I'm just saying you have that wish that hasn't happened yet. Why don't you have Jessica call that lady for you and just see if they have any time estimate? She can explain the circumstances. Until we know more, how 'bout you take the drug?"

"OK Mommy. I'll do that. Jessica, can you stay and call that woman now?"

"Sure, where's the number?"

Sookie answered. "There's an envelope in the top drawer of his table. Her name is Helen Oleski."

Sookie and Maxine left in search of Hoyt and to give Hunter privacy while he called Helen with Jessica's help. Once outside Maxine praised Sookie. "You did a good job in there – you bought yourself some time."

"Yes, but how much?"

"Everyday is a gift. You really don't know what tomorrow will bring."

"Yes, but he's right. He doesn't have a good prognosis which puts him lower on the transplant lists. The fact that they can't accurately diagnose the problem with his kidneys is like a black mark on his record – the risk is he would just ruin another kidney if he got one. I think the fact that he's in foster care also moves him lower, but nobody will say that out loud. I've heard some thoughts like that though."

"But it's your kidney your donatin', isn't it your decision?"

"But it's someone else's heart he also needs; they won't do one without the other."

"And THAT is just stupid. Has Sid Matt made any headway?"

"That poor man has given me so many hours of free legal service, but so far nothing. Another person I'll never be able to repay."

"Never mind that. Let's go find Hoyt. He hates to think about Hunter's future."

"No, he hates when the reality that Hunter has no future comes up."

"We all do Sookie."

OOOoooOOOooo

Meanwhile, Jessica called Helen only to discover that she'd turned the wish 'case' over to her boss in Baton Rouge, Genny Burke. The woman was cold on the phone to Jessica but at least she provided Genny's number. Genny was not much more help though, stating that she'd made the request on Hunter's behalf and was planning to call the contact the next night. Jessica relayed this information to Hunter while Genny was still on the phone so he asked to speak to her.

"Mrs. Burke, Hunter would like to speak to you."

"Of course. Put him on."

Hunter asked for privacy, so Jessica stood in the hallway while he spoke to her. "Mrs. Burke. What's the real scoop? I kinda need to know since they want to put me on this medication that's gonna really slow me down and if I'm waiting for nothing, it's not worth it."

Genny's heart broke for the boy so she answered him honestly. "I met with Mr. Northman myself."

"YOU DID? But I heard Jessica say you live in Baton Rouge."

"I do and it's a long story. Wouldn't you rather hear the outcome?"

"OH YES!"

"He thinks we can work something out. He just needed some time to look into things."

"Mommy and I are the things?"

"Well, he only knows a little about you. I think he just wanted to think it through."

"Mrs. Burke, it's OK if he's checking us out. I saw him flying outside my window twice."

This shocked the woman. First that Eric could fly, because she absolutely believed Hunter. Second that he was really doing that personal of an investigation. If she thought about it, she really shouldn't have been too surprised. Mr. Northman – Eric was very intrigued by the request of the boy. He was gracious and caring of her story, at least it appeared that way.

"Mrs. Burke, are you still there?"

"Yes Hunter, you just surprised me. Did your Mommy see him?"

"Nah, she was asleep, I kept it quiet."

"I see. Can you get your friend Jessica back on the phone?"

When Jessica returned to the room, she committed to waiting for Genny to call her back after she spoke to the 'wish contact' for Hunter. To ensure that Hunter maintained his secret, Jessica went out in search of Sookie to tell her to 'stay away' as Hunter put it until Jessica gave her the all clear. "Why don't you guys grab some dinner while I wait with Hunter?"

"You're sure?"

"I am, and if anything happens, I'll text Hoyt."

"Ok Jess. How's my baby?"

"He's very excited about something. You're keeping your promise, you don't know – right? That would crush him."

"I kept my promise, I have no idea what his wish is."

OOOoooOOOooo

As Genny promised Hunter, she called Eric right away and was surprised to get him live on the phone.

"Northman."

"Eric, it's Genny Burke from Make a Wish."

"Good evening Genny. How are you?"

"Well first thank you for putting me up in your hotel. I really appreciate that."

"My pleasure."

"Back to your questions - I am fine . . . well that's not exactly true." She paused. "I'm calling because there's been a change with Hunter."

Eric's heart sank and he wondered if the boy's health had declined further since he left the hospital. "What's happened?"

Genny could clearly hear the concern in his voice and it puzzled her and made her happy at the same time. She went on to describe what she learned from Jessica and that Hunter was trying to determine if the drug was worth it. "That's really what he said, and being worth it was what? My agreement?"

"Mr. Northman, I'm in a difficult position. Your answer, as I said before needs to be what you want. I'm not trying to sway you; I just need to give the boy whatever facts I can."

"He's four. Doesn't the adult make these decisions?" He didn't want Hunter to decline the drugs, it scared him that the boy wouldn't agree – not when he planned to engage the best doctors he could to review his situation.

"I'll just assume you read the details. Technically the Rattray's can make the decision, but they should take Hunter's desires into account."

"Understood. I'm planning to reach out to Hunter within the week." At this point, he wanted to have the personal property auction conclude so he could offer Sookie her own items after he met them. "I have a surprise lined up for them."

"He's seen you, you know. I wasn't aware that vampires could fly."

"It's not that common of a vampire gift. I knew he saw me. I take it he's kept that a secret."

"He did."

"Before we continue though, I also did need to speak to you about publicity."

"I'm sure we can arrange for that if you need it."

"Actually, the opposite please. If you NEED publicity, I'll make a donation or something you can publicize, but I don't want Sookie and Hunter associated to me. That wouldn't be to their benefit at all." There was no way he was going to have Sookie subjected to any publicity. First because really, the story wasn't anyone's business but more importantly he wanted Sookie and Hunter to be kept away from vampires. Publicizing a date wouldn't do anyone any good.

"Given the whole story, I'm inclined to agree and that won't be a problem. I won't turn down a donation, but it's not necessary at all." The line was silent for a moment before she confirmed. "So I can call Hunter back and tell him just about a week?"

"Yes, do you need something formal from me?"

"Can you just call me after you've had your date so I can close the file?"

"Will do. Thank you for calling me. I was working on the surprise and was taken out of town on business unexpectedly. I apologize that I didn't call YOU to tell you my intentions."

"It's not a problem. I'm just happy to call and give the boy the good news. Thank you Eric."

"No Genny thank you. Honestly, I can't wait to meet them both."

NOTE – I completely made up this drug name


	4. It's just stuff

**Hi all:**

**There is a light tissue warning for this one. Well, I think light. In general, just have tissues handy for this story. Looking to have more happy/hopeful tears as we go on. That doesn't mean there aren't sad things to come - just hoping to transition.**

**Thanks for your support. I'm overwhelmed by the favorites and followers and really overwhelmed by the reviews - I tried to keep up but ran out of time to respond - I really wanted to post.**

**M**

Chapter 4 – It's just stuff

"I won't be in until later tonight Pam."

"Fine Master. I'll handle the bar until you get here."

"Good Pam."

She hung up but grumbled for a while about the unfairness of her maker. Eric laughed when he could feel her annoyance through the bond. That wasn't making him change his mind though; he would be late because tonight he had a special appointment in Bon Temps. Bobby had secured a private viewing of the Stackhouse home and therefore the personal property. Per Bobby, the auctioneer had cataloged about 3/4ths of the house, so most of it was out on tables awaiting the auction on Saturday. What remained was in the attic and it would be left open for him to peruse. He was actually impressed that Bobby got something right.

He chose to arrive in a limo that picked him up at Fangtasia, this way he could be sure the house was empty while staying hidden in the car. When he got to the house, Bobby was actually still there and confirmed the auctioneer had left after giving Bobby the key. "You can wait outside Bobby. I'll be a little while."

"Yes Ma . . . sir."

The porch steps groaned under his weight and upon closer inspection, he saw that much of the exterior needed work. No matter now, according to the information Mustapha had obtained, the basic house structure was being kept intact to keep the historical ranking, but the façade would be done over. The house would become the main community center for a posh vacation home resort for the wealthy of Shreveport and beyond. Furnan was hoping to attract Dallas residents with the beauty of the Stackhouse property which boasted a wooded section, open field and a pond large enough to support fishing for the new community. He was investigating the deal and the plans with Furnan, hoping to stop him and buy the property back. For now though, he was following through with his desire to secure the contents before they were dispersed to a variety of collectors and other buyers at the auction.

The first room he entered had been the living room, now it held rows of tables covered in belongings; knick knacks, empty photo frames, vinyl albums and a turntable. The dining room was the same. He only glanced at most items not really knowing what was a potential treasure or memory for Sookie. Down the hallway he found two bedrooms, but they were stacked full of furniture; all of it labeled with lot numbers for the auction. The last room on the main floor was the kitchen and in addition to the old fashioned looking cooking equipment, Eric noticed that the jamb of the door leading to a screened in porch had markings on it. After studying them, he realized the marks indicated Sookie, Hunter and Jason's heights marked with a date. He guessed it was each of their birthdates since he recognized Hunter's as his birthday from the paperwork he'd read. This was probably something that would be wanted so he decided to ask Bobby if they could procure it somehow.

In the first of the upstairs bedrooms, he found quilts handmade by Adele based on the flyer for the auction. These would definitely be something Sookie would want. Actually anything could be like that – he stood firm on his decision to just buy everything and let Sookie decide. The second bedroom was empty since all the furniture had already been moved downstairs. He did notice a book rack that was attached to the wall – not built in. It looked handmade and hand painted. That was probably worth obtaining.

As promised, the stairs to the attic were down so he ascended to see the remaining items. Most of it was boxes, and since the ceiling was low, he wound up bringing them all down to the empty bedroom. After a quick look in the boxes, he returned to the attic to check the remaining items out. Stuck to nails along a ceiling beam, he found three bouquets of flowers that he guessed were left to dry. All of them were the same species: Alstroemeria or Peruvian lily. That gave him an idea.

The last item, tucked in the back corner was a writing desk that appeared to be full of handwritten letters but he didn't pry by looking at any of them. '_I wonder if Sookie even knows these are here. Well, no matter, come Saturday night, she'll be the owner of these again_.' As that was the final item, he quickly left the house and actually thanked Bobby for arranging the time. "Tell the auctioneer I moved everything out of the attic."

Bobby couldn't hide his puzzled face. "Ah, sure."

"Call Furnan, there's a door jamb in the kitchen that has writing on it, kid's heights and in one of the upstairs bedrooms there's a bookrack attached to the wall. See if those can both be procured. And just to confirm; I want everything, no exceptions."

"Understood. I have 6 people plus me bidding for you at the auction."

"Excellent. I look forward to your report when I rise on Saturday."

OOOoooOOOooo

"You OK Mommy?"

"It's a hard day baby, but the auction today is just things. I have everything I want right here in this bed."

"At least you're not working tonight."

"Yeah, Sam and I thought it would be too hard today. Everyone at Merlotte's will be talking about the auction."

Theresa, one of Hunter's regular nurses walked by while Sookie and Hunter were chatting. She knew Sookie meant what she said about Hunter being everything she wanted, but that wasn't stopping the nurses from pooling together to buy one of her Gran's quilts for her. They'd managed to collect almost $1000 and were hopeful it would be enough. The talk around Bon Temps was that Adele Stackhouse's quilts would fetch a great deal of money since they were all hand stitched. Four of the nurses that didn't work Saturdays were spending the day at the auction so the group working was all on edge waiting for a text that they'd won one of the bids. As she walked by the nurse's station, she received and update that the nurses had called from the auction. "They just confirmed they spoke to Sookie's boss and told him their plan. He's spreading word to keep the locals from bidding on one of the quilts. They picked one Sam knew her Gran had made for her: It's covered in flip flops and it was made in recognition of Sookie's love of the sun."

"Sounds perfect Nancy. I can't wait to hear what happens."

At the auction, Bobby had overheard the conversation between the nurse and Merlotte and he made an executive decision: He'd leave this 'flip flop' quilt for the nurses. He knew all the contents were for this Sookie anyway, and she'd probably be happy to have such a gesture. Of course, he could die for this decision, it was Eric after all, but he was pretty sure this was the right thing to do. He was taken from his thoughts as the auctioneer called to the crowd to begin.

OOOoooOOOooo

Jason Stackhouse was pissed. He'd arrived two hours before the auction was set to start and his ire grew with each passing minute. He couldn't believe his life was about to go up for sale and there wasn't anything he could do about it. His Grandpa's guns were in that house and he wanted them. He had almost two thousand bucks and he was sure he that would be enough to win them, though it really burned him that he needed to buy them back. As he scanned the crowd, he noticed most of Bon Temps seemed to be represented. He also noticed many outsiders, but he'd heard from his buddy Rene that collectors from all over were expected and it would drive prices up. '_Goody for ma fuckin' cunt sister. Glad she'll get so much money out of this here fiasco_.' He thought to himself. '_If I don't get ma guns, I'm gonna tan her hide. Yeah, she'll regret it. First chance she leaves that hospital she'll be mine_.'

He settled down with Rene when the auctioneer notified everyone that he was about to start.

OOOoooOOOooo

Several hours later, every item had been sold to only seven people and the nurses. Most of Bon Temps had walked away upset about 2 hours into the bidding. Sam was calling Sookie with the update. "Your brother had to be removed before he was officially arrested for his obscene language and threats. Nobody was outbidding these seven out of towners or 'lucky 7' as we started calling them. Well, they weren't the only out of towners, but the seven that took everything (he kept the quilt purchase a secret). The good news, Sookie, is that you made a ton of money at the auction. There was one very interesting bidding war. A dark haired and very good looking man came and bid on a desk. While the auction had raised about $125K, $97K of it was this desk."

"What desk?'

"Some old writing desk. Was it antique or something?"

"Shit Sam, if we had something worth that much in the house, I would've sold it before now. I have no idea what makes that desk so special; I don't even remember it."

"Well, now that one of the 'lucky 7' owns it, we'll never know."

"When is the stuff being picked up?"

"It had to be gone within three days."

"Well, I guess that's that. Thanks for calling Sam, I really should get going." Sam could hear the sadness in Sookie's voice as they ended the call. At least the nurses got the quilt for Sookie and with her having the night off, Sam knew they were going to present it to her shortly. That should brighten her night.

Sookie wanted to be mad that these 'lucky 7' as Sam called them now owned so much of her life but she'd already said goodbye to that stuff and focused on what she needed to do for her son. In fact, the auctioneer hoped they would get collectors and possibly antique vendors as they would drive up the earnings. That was something that with Sookie's hospital bills, she needed. After her mini self analysis she decided to be happy. She never dreamed she would make as much as she did. The dinner tray for Hunter arrived, disrupting her thoughts. "Hey honey, your dinner's here. Let's get you sitting up."

"How long did I sleep? Did Sam call?"

"He did, and before you ask, we did very well."

"Will it pay off everything?"

"No, but it's a good amount. We'll split it between the hospital and the doctors. OK?"

"OK." Being a telepath, there wasn't much Sookie hid from him. So while most four year olds wouldn't even know about bills, Hunter knew about the extreme debt from his medical condition.

"Come on, you need to eat."

"Are you eating?"

"Not tonight baby."

Hunter had just finished his dinner, which he called tasteless, when several of his regular nurses walked in wearing street clothes. Behind them, the two nurses working tonight stood at the door in their scrubs. "What's going on guys?" Hunter asked.

Nancy spoke, "We got your Mommy something Hunter."

His smile was wide since he already knew what it was and Sookie was already tearing up; she'd heard their thoughts about their plan and knew she needed to put on a good show about being surprised. From behind the three standing in front, one of the nurses held up the quilt. It WAS Sookie's favorite and no acting was needed, she was truly overwhelmed for a moment before she could speak. "Oh God. She made that one for me. It was my favorite. How did you know?"

"Sam told us. He also kept anyone that he knew from bidding on it."

"You shouldn't have done this – but I'll admit it – I love it! Thank you so much!"

She had risen to accept the quilt and now she sat back down with it wrapped around her shoulders. A smile stayed on her face that most in the room hadn't seen in a while.

"Ok, now that you feel better Mommy, will you eat something?"

"In a bit baby. I don't want to move right now. I'm wrapped in my Gran's love."

OOOoooOOOooo

"Report."

"We got all but one item, and I have a reason for that."

Eric was immediately pissed. "You better. Start explaining."

"I overheard some of Hunter's nurses talking to Merlotte. They got together to purchase a particular quilt as a gift for Sookie. I pulled one of our bidders aside and told her to ensure the nurses won the quilt. They did win and they are presenting it to her tonight."

"Tonight? She's working." Eric was intrigued. He'd planned to go see her tomorrow since she worked Saturdays. Maybe if she was upset because of the auction, a visit tonight would be the right timing. Besides, he really was anxious to meet her.

"I also heard that she and Sam decided that working tonight would be too hard for her."

"Interesting. When will you have all the items?"

"They are all paid for and being moved to storage tomorrow. Everything will be done by the time you rise tomorrow night. I'll drop off my copy of the keys at Fangtasia."

"Excellent Bobby. One thing though, drop the spare keys at my house. Don't discuss this with Pam."

"Understood." Bobby was smart enough to know there was some tension going on between the two of them, and he chose to stay out of it.

"So, no problems?"

"Jason Stackhouse needed to be removed from the auction after several guns were sold. Apparently he had planned to bid on them, but they were sold as a group for $2,250. Jason stopped bidding at $2,000."

"What happened that he was removed?"

"He started verbally attacking and threatening our bidder. The sheriff stepped in and asked Jason to leave or be arrested. He did tell Jason he was making a note of the threats in case anything happened to our resource. I took the initiative to hire a guard for the next few days. I got a were from Packmaster Flood."

"Do your bidders know about weres?"

"No, and the guard has been told to keep the existence of weres quiet. If something happens and he needs to, he'll shift into a wolf and we'll just use glamour to erase the memory from her mind."

"This was good work Bobby. Your need execute on my request like this more often."

"Well, Pam had no shoe sales she needed me to get to today."

He'd heard similar comments before but never really paid attention. "Are you serious? Is that why some days you don't get done your assignments?"

Silence.

"Bobby?"

"I thought the two of you coordinated and she would inform me her work took priority. I would rather not say anymore and get in between the two of you. Sir."

"Fine. I'll deal with this. My work is your priority. In fact, I'll be informing her to find her own day help going forward; simply ignore all her requests from now on. That's going to mean NO EXCUSES for you."

"Understood. Anything more for today?"

"Yes, can you get me a bouquet of Alstroemeria?"

"Where should I send the flowers?"

"You know what, never mind. I'll get it myself. Enjoy your evening."

Bobby was just pocketing his phone when he heard someone growl at him. "Who do you work for?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"You, on the phone just now, who was it?"

"I'm not at liberty to discuss that." THWAP – he was back handed hard.

"Start talking, or there's more where that came from."

"Mr. Stackhouse, you really don't want to do this."

"HOW THE FUCK DO YOU KNOW MY NAME?" When Bobby didn't answer, Jason punched him hard. "I want the guns. Those were my Grandpa's guns and I wannem now."

"I can't do that Jason, and if you don't stop now, you will regret it." Bobby was afraid. He knew Jason was upset about the situation and he seemed damned unstable. Bobby wasn't a fighter and perhaps, if he survived this, he'd need to learn how to protect himself.

"How will I regret it? You left the restaurant with your little auction bidder buddies ta tell your 'sir' you got e'rething. You conveniently moved to the back of the alley here so ain't nobody gonna hear us."

"Jason. Stop. You aren't going to get the guns and if you leave now, we'll forget about this. Are you really going to risk your freedom for some guns? Your sister lost most of her belongings today as well. It's not like she's taking a vacation with the money."

"NO, she's paying off bills for a kid she shouldn't of taken in. For a kid that killed ma Gran. And I AM angry and she'll feel it too, believe me. But right now, I want to know WHO. YOU. WORK. FOR."

"No."

"Well then. Im'a enjoy this." Jason proceeded to beat Bobby for a few minutes and it didn't stop until the guard Bobby had hired for the other bidder came out of the restaurant concerned that Bobby had been gone too long. The guard spooked off Jason but didn't give chase since Bobby was bleeding and in obvious need of medical help.

Bobby tried to tell the guard to call Sookie to warn her, but his jaw was broken. Tony shushed him. "Bobby, your jaw is broken, don't try to talk. I just called an ambulance and the police." The sirens started in the background. "I'll meet them at the end of the alley and get another guard just in case. Was this that Stackhouse guy?" Bobby nodded yes before Tony left his side. When Tony got to the end of the alley he also called for help. He figured he needed to go to the hospital with Bobby and setup another guard for his original charge.

"You called for police?"

"Yes, a man was beaten; he's at the end of the alley. His name is Bobby Burnham and it looks like his jaw is broken."

"You know him?"

"Business associates. He needs medical attention, can we talk later?"

The Shreveport police officer moved with the paramedics to take care of Bobby. Meanwhile, another guard showed up and Tony filled him in. "Dan, I was hired to guard someone by Bobby Burnham. Instead, Bobby was actually beaten by the threat and I called you in to guard my charge while I go to the hospital with Bobby."

"Got it. I'll report to you?"

"Yeah. I mean, I'm not calling his vampire right now. That dude is scary and Bobby and the woman you're guarding are both still alive."

"His vampire?" He's a fangbanger?"

"No, Bobby is a day guy."

"Ah, what vampire?"

"Eric Northman."

"FUCK, thanks for calling me in asshole. He's one scary mother fucker."

Tony just shrugged his shoulders and pointed through the restaurant window to the woman Dan needed to guard. Then he informed the paramedics he would follow them to the hospital.

Once Bobby was being examined in the ER, Tony stepped out to call his Packmaster. "Packmaster, I've got a situation."

"Go on."

"The threat we were guarding against attacked Northman's dayman. He's in the ER now, he's pretty beat up."

"You never worked with Northman directly on this – right?"

"No, so I wasn't sure if I could just call him directly or not."

"I'll call him. You at Good Shepherd?"

"No, we were closer to Parish and I didn't argue with the paramedic."

"You know what Northman looks like, right?"

"Yeah. Tell him Bobby was beaten by Jason Stackhouse."

OOOoooOOOooo

In one of his Shreveport homes, Eric had changed two times, trying to find the right message with his clothes. He started with a suit; then tried his leather pants and vest. With his final outfit, he was sure he'd nailed it. Sookie seemed to be a down to earth girl so his standard jeans, black tee-shirt and motorcycle boots was the right choice; it represented him.

He looked up the address for a florist and got in his car. After he'd picked up the bouquet, he worried that it wasn't enough of a gesture; he even drove around Shreveport wondering if he should stop for something else. '_Perhaps chocolates? Perfume_?' He found himself worrying about making the right first impression and only stopped when he remembered, he was giving her the key to a storage unit that was going to be filled with ALL the contents of her home - former home that is. He wasn't planning to go to the warehouse tonight but he planned to take her in the next few days. Knowing he didn't need any more, he stopped window shopping and drove towards the hospital. With the flowers in hand, he left his car in the hospital parking lot and walked in. He hadn't been this excited about something in a long time and the grin on his face showed it. As he walked towards the elevators to go to Hunter's floor, he froze. Sookie was in the corner of a waiting room and she was talking to a young red headed woman, likely Jessica Hamby this friend who continued to help her. Since this was Hunter's wish, he wanted to wait for her to go back upstairs to reveal himself. To kill time, he did something any potential suitor would do: He hid out of sight for a few minutes and eavesdropped. Shameless, he knew.

In a corner to the side of the waiting room, he was able to see the women and hear the conversation but not be seen too easily. His assessment of Sookie's weight from what he'd seen as she slept was correct; she looked gaunt. He cheeks were hollowed in and from the cut of her dress; her shoulder bones looked like they were poking directly through the skin. While he may have liked the look of more flesh, his concern here was the why she was so waiflike. She was obviously not eating enough either due to financial concerns or the stress. He couldn't wait to fatten her up. Right now though, his dead heart was hurting as he watched her cry on her friend's shoulder.

"Thanks Jessica, I needed a few minutes away. This day has been upsetting and I've been trying to remind myself that it is really just . . . well just stuff and it IS just stuff. But . . ."

"But some of it is memories too. I get that Sookie. It's OK for you to be upset."

It was hard for Eric to stay put and not tell her right away about all her 'stuff', but again, this was also about Hunter so he stayed where he was. Some may have referred to this as stalking, he preferred to think of it as proper courting; he was just getting to know her as best he could.

The crying started slowing enough that Sookie could speak again. "I just needed a minute. I feel so bad, you guys coming here when you finally get a Saturday night to yourselves."

"Sookie, Hoyt and I wanted to be here for you. We go on a proper date every Friday night and you know it. Besides, we get one Saturday night a month when Lala comes."

"What didya do last night?"

"We went ice skating. We do that every couple of weeks – at the indoor rink in Monroe, you know the one?" Sookie nodded. "After, we went out for hot chocolates – there's a new dessert and coffee restaurant in Shreveport."

"Sounds like my kind of place." Jessica was about to suggest a girl's night out, but she was unsure how Sookie would feel about it. With everything Hunter was going through, she knew Sookie hated to leave his side for any amount of time. Still, that place was only about 10 minutes away and Hoyt LOVED to visit with Hunter.

From his hidden position, Eric closed his eyes for a moment and just enjoyed the sound of her voice. It only added to her appeal and he couldn't wait until he heard her speaking to him. He especially wanted to hear her laugh; something he feared didn't happen that much for her.

"Maybe we can go one night? You do deserve something fun for yourself." Eric was very interested in this answer

"I don't know."

"I do. Come on, it's only 10 minutes away and it'll be my treat. Let's pick a day with Hoyt when we get upstairs."

"Just for a short outing, right?"

"Just dessert."

"Ok. Let's go upstairs. I'm all calm for my baby now. Thanks again Jessica."

"My pleasure Sookie."

Eric stayed hidden, but could see them get into the elevator. Just as he was about to follow in the next car he got a call. It was Colonel Flood, Packmaster to the local weres. He never called for social reasons so he reluctantly answered. "Northman."

"Flood." Well, now that they pleasantries were out of the way . . . "I got a call from one of my guys; he was hired by your dayman to guard someone who did some auction bidding for you?"

"Yes, I'm familiar with the request. Why are you calling me, why isn't Bobby?"

"The threat, Jason Stackhouse, attacked Bobby. He's in the ER of the Parish hospital. Any instructions?"

_'Godsdammit! Now I'll need to deal with this instead of meeting Sookie. Jason Stackhouse will pay for this.'_

"Northman?"

"I'll need to check on Bobby and assess the threat. Where's your guy?"

"Names Tony. He's at the ER with Bobby. Before you flip out, he already called a second guard to take care of the original woman he was hired to protect."

"Very well, I'll see him there. I appreciate the call."

Flood liked Eric, and this was why: He talked to people - didn't order them around; he had manners. Other Packmasters he knew reported that their local vampire sheriffs were too busy being superior to have a decent interaction. He wasn't going to start hanging with Northman, but they had a pretty damn good working relationship. "Not a problem Eric. Hope your guy's OK."

At least he was already in the hospital, but damn if he wasn't torn. To his right was the ER and in front of him, the elevators leading to Hunter and Sookie. With a sigh he headed right towards the ER, handing the flowers to some stranger in the waiting area saying he had to go and couldn't deliver them as planned. His angel would have to wait.


	5. Taking care of business

**Hi all! **

**NOTE: I'm planning to move to wordpress exclusively after chapter 8 - so please check my profile and get ready for that move. I'll start my stories on fanfiction so folks can find them but it's becoming too much overhead to maintain the whole story in both places. I'll need to figure out how to address readers who only read completed stories they've found on fanfiction - but I'll cross that bridge later.**

**Tissue warning - LOW**

**Frying Pan warning: Get 'em ready. I can handle it (not really, I'm just trying to be brave) - I hope to post again this weekend so don't yell too much!**

Chapter 5 – Taking care of business

"What's Bobby's condition? What happened?" Eric asked Tony after they found each other in the ER waiting area.

"He's unconscious, or he was when I last saw him. His nose and left cheekbones are broken; actually the doctor used the word shattered to describe his cheek. Several broken ribs and lots of bruises. Even though he doesn't have any internal injuries it's going to take a long time for him to recover. We were at Mirrors, that new restaurant just like 4 blocks from here with all the auction bidders he'd hired. He stepped out to call you, and when he took longer than I thought was reasonable I went to find him, but the damage was done."

"Have you reported that it was Stackhouse?"

"No, because that could mean getting you involved – exposing your role in the auction."

"You know anyone on the police force here? I know the chief but would rather not call him on a Saturday night."

"Couple of pack brothers. Want me to call someone?"

"Please. I need to call my doctor for his care."

Eric stepped to a more private area for his call. "Ludwig, I've got a situation."

"Better be serious to call me this late on a Saturday night."

"My dayman's been beaten severely. Can you assist with a healing?"

"You have blood?"

"Can you meet me at Fangtasia in two hours?"

"Yes."

He went back to update Tony. "I've got my own doctor meeting me at Fangtasia later for some healing blood. We need to get his injuries recorded before she heals him. Do you have anyone coming?"

"Detective Sheridan from the Shreveport Police department is on his way. We'll need to make the statements while his partner documents the injuries before you heal him."

"Perfect."

"Here he is now." He gestured to a large man walking into the waiting room. "Detective Sheridan, this is Mr. Northman." He used Mister since the detective's partner was not supernatural.

"Thanks for coming out Detective."

"Not a problem Mr. Northman, Tony provided some background. I'll be taking your statements. My partner, Detective Farner will be documenting the injuries."

Since Tony had alerted the ER staff that detectives were on their way, they were ready to work with Detective Farner and lead her back to Bobby, while the other three moved to an empty waiting area. The detective took Tony's statement and put out a warrant for Jason Stackhouse's arrest. Though he was curious, he didn't ask the vampire sheriff how he knew Jason's address or his usual hangouts; he just reported them as information helpful for the case. They met up with Detective Farner who had all the documentation she needed and the police left.

"I'm headed to Fangtasia to inform a vampire in my custody that he's making a blood donation tonight."

"How will that go over?"

"Not that he has a choice, but it will take 30 days off his incarceration. That's something he'll want."

"I don't think I want to know the details of that."

"You don't. I'll see you shortly."

OOOoooOOOooo

"MASTER, so nice of you to join us on a BUSY Saturday night."

"If it's so busy, why are you in MY office with your feet up on MY desk?"

"You have the bigger office. I was just taking a break. Sheesh, get the stick out of your ass why don't you."

He'd had it with her but really didn't want to engage in another fight right now. He had something more important to do.

"When Ludwig arrives, bring her downstairs. I need to have a conversation with Liam."

"LIAM? He's only a month into his 12 month sentence."

"Yes, and I need his blood to heal Bobby."

"Did Bobby trip over his own feet?" She laughed at her own attempt at humor; Eric did not join her.

"He was beaten up due to a work situation so I'm seeing to his healing."

"Will he be better by Wednesday? Saks is having a sale and I need him in New Orleans for it."

"Do you ever think about anyone besides yourself?"

"I'm saving YOU money."

"No you're not. I cut you off. Your credit cards are canceled and Bobby's time is off limits to you. Find your own day person."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm glad I called you back to open this bar. It's made me see that you weren't ready to be away from me as your maker. You need to grow up Pam, and you'll be doing that by earning your own way while still right here where I can monitor you. You clearly can't be trusted. Now get back out on the floor until closing. The only time you can leave the main bar area is to walk Ludwig downstairs."

With a loud Pop in the room, the doctor appeared. "I'm here, you can take me yourself."

"Good evening Doctor. Thank you for coming on a Saturday night."

He turned to Pam as she rolled her eyes at her maker's manners. "Get out on the floor, NOW!"

As she spun on her heel to leave, Eric guided the doctor down to his vampire holding area. "I'm sorry I needed to deal with Pam. It was my intention to inform Liam that he's making a donation before you arrived. You can wait here." He gestured in the hallway outside one of his holding cells. "I'll come back for you when I've explained things. Do you need a seat?"

"No, I'm fine."

After donning some leather gloves, he entered one of his cells and proceeded to unlock the coffin in the room. He had a blood in his hands and the nose on the vampire in the coffin flared as he smelled the food he'd been denied for a month. "Before I give you this, I'll tell you why I'm here. I need your blood for a healing. In exchange, you get the blood in my hands right now and a month off your sentence. Agreed?" The vampire nodded his head and Eric gave him the blood that he eagerly drank. "Good, now Doctor Ludwig is going to extract your blood via a needle. If you give her any problems, we'll skip the nice way of doing it and I'll slice your arm over a bowl to collect it. You'll lose more that way – so you're going to be cooperative, right?"

"Yes Sheriff." He was able to answer now that he'd had some blood.

The extraction was quick and Ludwig rode with Eric back to the hospital. "I'll handle the glamour and hospital records while you treat Bobby."

"Sounds good."

When they arrived back at the ER, Tony was waiting for them with good news. "Stackhouse has been arrested. He's already been processed and sitting in a cell."

"Your friends work fast."

"They picked him up at the dive bar in Minden you mentioned. You made it easy."

Eric was relieved. He was trying to figure out how to post a guard with Sookie for Jason – but without Sookie knowing about it. Not an easy task at all. With Jason in jail, hopefully cooling off, he didn't have that worry for now. He and Ludwig made quick work of the Bobby situation and soon, Bobby was walking out of the hospital on his own. "Thank you Eric."

"Not a problem. This happened due to a work task, the healing was owed."

"You'll need to protect Miss Stackhouse, Jason threatened her while he was talking to me."

"He's been arrested. You'll be pressing charges." It was a statement, not a question and really Bobby knew, saying no wasn't an option anyway.

"Oh, you bet. Wait, I don't have any marks."

"You were photographed by the Shreveport police before your healing. We're in good shape." Bobby nodded and left with Tony who'd agreed to drive him home. Eric had only about an hour before sunrise, so he decided to check on Sookie and Hunter – but from the window. Tonight, or this very early morning, he was pleased to see Sookie wrapped in a quilt, he'd guessed the one that the nurses bought her from the Auction. He still hated seeing her slumped over the bed; that just couldn't be comfortable. He glanced at Hunter's face just to see if again, his presence woke the boy, but not this time. What happened this time is SOOKIE woke up so he moved quickly out of sight hoping she hadn't seen HIM. OOPS! His back was to the outside wall while he waited a moment to be sure he could fly off but no such luck. She must've seen something because she stood and moved to the window – at least that's what Eric thought he saw out of his limited line of sight to the room. After a quick glance around, she moved away from the window and headed to the bathroom. He took the opportunity to leave while the coast was clear. Tonight all this stalker-ish behavior would end, he promised himself. Tonight, he was going to meet them both – even if Fangtasia was burning to the ground, he was going to meet them.

OOOoooOOOooo

Sookie stepped in to take her shower. She normally did this before bed, just around the nurse's shift change at 11PM when they were less likely to be in the room. Oh, everyone knew she showered in Hunter's bath but she preferred if the nurses didn't see it – then they couldn't get in trouble because of her. But in a gesture to provide comfort, Jessica had been rubbing her back last night and the next thing she knew, she was awake. She was glad something woke her before the day fully started so she could get her shower; it was strange though, like some presence suddenly popped into her head. She could also swear she saw movement outside the window, but didn't see anything when she checked it out. Whatever, it wasn't even light out so she couldn't expect to be functioning properly yet. Today, she really wanted to get Hunter to the playroom. She knew his new lethargy would make that hard, but even if they wheeled his bed in or used one of those more reclining type wheel chairs they could make it work; he needed the playtime. Yes, she'd make that her mission for the day.

It was a while before Hunter woke, and that was only after his breakfast was delivered. He was pretty groggy and Sookie really hated that medicine. Her poor baby had no energy after breakfast and she was afraid they wouldn't grant her request to get him to the playroom. While he napped, she met with Theresa, Hunter's favorite nurse. She explained how she really wanted him to get into the play room today and since he didn't have dialysis, they had the whole day to work something out. Theresa was hesitant since Hunter couldn't sit up and they couldn't wheel his bed into that room: That was a hospital no-no. When she explained this to Sookie, the distraught mother started shaking her head. "There has to be a way. Theresa, you know damn well he's getting worse and he needs to do things he enjoys. What about one of those reclining wheelchairs?"

"That might work. I'll see what I can find."

OOOoooOOOooo

"What do you mean I'm stuck here?"

"Jason, you beat a man. I have the report from the Shreveport Police Department – with pictures of his injuries. You're lucky I just locked you up here when I got the call about the warrant for you arrest. I coulda turned you over to them and you'd be in a bigger lockup with no friends and possibly cellmates. You just hang tight til you're arraigned."

"What about a lawyer?"

"Portia Bellefleur will be here sometime today."

"Sometime? I got rights."

"And it's Sunday in Bon Temps. I can call Shreveport and have someone come over if you want, but Portia agreed to help you pro bono at least to start."

"Fuck Andy, I got work tomorrow. I cain't be sitting here, waiting for your sister, waiting for the judge."

"You shoulda thought about that before you hurt that guy."

"He knows who bought my Grandpa's guns. I wannem back."

"They weren't yours. Sookie owned the house and the contents per your Gran's will. We've been through this. Maybe if youda been nicer to her before all this happened, she woulda givenem back to you."

"Fuck you Andy."

"I'll leave you to cool down. And you can't talk to my sister Portia like that when she gets here. Ya hear me?"

"Yeah yeah."

Jason couldn't believe he was trapped in this cell. He wondered how they found him from Shreveport so fast, and who the wimp was that couldn't handle a beatin' without calling the cops. '_Pictures, they got pictures of his injuries. Couple bruises, that's it! Wimp._' In his head, Jason continued to rant about his situation and the unfairness of losing what he considered his property. The desire he had for the guns was taking over all rational thought. He didn't even care that the Springfield was worth lots of money – he just wanted his Grandpa's guns. As far as Jason was concerned, Sookie stole them; just like she stole the farmhouse and the property. He knew this in his soul just like he knew Sookie killed Gran by taking that damn drug baby in and making Gran care for him. Gran was too old to be taking care of a baby – and a sickly one at that. He vowed that his bitch sister was going to pay when he got out.

OOOoooOOOooo

Eric rose with about an hour and a half until sunset. He started first with his email and had updates from Mustapha and bobby:

_Eric:_

_Indira went out with me for a bit last night and we had limited success:_

_*None of Hunter's current nurses could be found at home last night so I tracked down one from his stay at Good Shepherd. She gave me some interesting information. Seems Alcide Herveaux and Sookie 'dated' for a while. I put dated in quotes since they met at the hospital while Alcide was visiting his dying mother and they didn't date as much as 'hook up' according to this nurse. Sookie was the one who ended it and Herveaux was less than pleased._

_*I was unable to have Indira glamour Jason or Maxine last night. Maxine had a large gathering at her house when we arrived and Jason was nowhere to be found. I investigated today and I guess you know where he was. Hope Bobby is alright. I did go to Merlotte's and had dinner, without Indira as you told her to keep away from anyone in Bon Temps for now. Interesting news just from the town gossip:_

_*A local were, Tray Dawson, was there and someone named Lala was thanking him for the work to Sookie's car. That lead to joking about how he needed to sneak her car out of the Merlotte's parking lot last weekend to do the maintenance on a Saturday night, free of charge. Seems that Sam Merlotte was in on it and ensured that Sookie didn't notice her missing car keys or car for that matter. Dawson was concerned though that the car was getting beyond the ability to keep in good and safe repair and Sookie has repeatedly refused an older but more stable car as a gift from him. This town sure loves her. Well most do._

_*My waitress, Arlene Fowler who spent most of my time there gossiping instead of waitressing, rolled her eyes at the Tray Dawson conversation; then complained to her boyfriend Rene about how undeserving Sookie was for all the attention. I took the liberty of investigating the woman and shamelessly had Indira glamour her (since she was in the parking lot and we saw an opportunity) and discovered that Sookie used to babysit her kids until she got Hunter and she's just pissed about that. I also think the fact that she's working on securing husband 4, lives in a trailer, and can barely manage financially has her jealous of Sookie's help. My guess is Sookie would be jealous of the good health her kids enjoy._

_*The most interesting thing I discovered today is the identity and species of the man who fought your bidder for the desk at the auction. His name is Claude Crane, owner of Hooligans Strip club and I'm sure you know this, but just in case you don't, he's a fairy. Let me know how you want to proceed. I'm not getting you mixed up with anything fairy until you tell me._

_Please advise on next steps._

_Mustapha._

That last information really surprised Eric. '_A fairy? A FUCKING FAIRY_?' Eric's head was screaming with the revelation. No, he did NOT want to get mixed up with a fairy – that was for damn sure. It did create curiosity though and he wondered about the letters and other possible contents of that desk. He had promised himself he wouldn't go through Sookie's stuff any further, he already felt guilty about going through the house – though that wasn't an uncommon practice for collector's before a large auction. But to rifle through the desk – that was going a bit far. He would perhaps discuss the desk with Sookie and maybe see if he could help her go through her items.

As for the other revelations? He wanted to throttle this Arlene and shake Tray's hand. That would all come in time. Maybe Mustapha could speak were to were to Tray and learn more. Perhaps just different or better parts could be purchased for her old car. Though after hearing her car was unsafe, he wanted to go purchase her a tank.

_Mustapha:_

_Good instincts on the Fairy. Do not pursue. I'll advise on more later._

_Can you learn more about the car from Tray? Can I offer to purchase some parts that will make the care more reliable and safe? _

_Jason should hopefully stay locked up for a while, Bobby was beaten badly and they have pictures. We'll deal with his glamour later. _

_Don't worry about Maxine at this point. I'm planning to introduce myself to Sookie tonight. _

_Eric_

His next email initially made him mad since it was from Bobby and he'd told him not to work today but apparently he didn't listen. After thinking about it, he realized that the vampire blood probably fully healed him and he didn't need the day off. Besides, the man was finally showing initiative which he liked. Of course, the cynical side of Eric wondered how long that would last.

_Eric:_

_Two updates:_

_All the items have been moved from the farmhouse to the storage unit and Furnan Developers has been contacted._

_Bon Temps police has called me to discuss my complaint. I let the calls go to voicemail as I am unsure how to deal with a request that I come in. At this point, I'm planning to ignore the calls as I was possibly too beaten to be up and about and therefore on the phone. Please advise on your wishes._

_Bobby_

Eric wondered why the Bon Temps police needed to talk to Bobby. Surely the Shreveport reports should suffice.

_Bobby,_

_I'll talk to the Detective from Shreveport regarding the call from Bon Temps. For now, continue as you have been and ignore the calls. Send the information from your message so I can contact them directly if needed. _

_Thank you for coordinating the move of the auction winnings. _

_If I have any items for you tomorrow, I'll send you an email before I go to rest._

_Eric_

With a few emails complete related to his business, Viking Industries, he was ready for his trip to the hospital. Since he was happy with his clothing selections from yesterday, he simply repeated his jeans and tee shirt and headed out. Not being a regular consumer of flowers, he was surprised to find the flower shop closed since it was Sunday so he had to settle for Gerbera daisies from the local Sam's Club. As he drove to the hospital he wondered again why he was so interested, but gave up AGAIN trying to figure it out. Instead, he just drove with a grin on his face. The Parish hospital was not in the best of neighborhoods and he admonished himself for not thinking about this before. Now he hated the thought that on some Saturday nights she arrived back here at 2AM, parked and had to walk a ways to get to the safety of the hospital. This was something he'd really need to think about. Maybe by next Saturday she'd be open to having a certain vampire meet her at her car for an escort. . . _'You're getting ahead of yourself Northman._' He admonished himself mentally.

He arrived on Hunter's floor, bouquet of flowers in hand and stopped just outside Hunter's door, shocked to stillness by the beautiful singing coming from the room.

OOOoooOOOooo

Hunter was just waking from an afternoon nap when Theresa walked in with a reclining wheel chair. Sookie beamed. Hunter caught her thoughts and knew he was going to the playroom but he waited to hear the information out loud like Mommy taught him. "What's this?"

"This, Sir Hunter, is your transportation to the playroom." Theresa explained. "This can keep you reclined since you can't sit up for that long right now. I know some of your friends are already there and are anxious to see you."

"Who?"

"Johnny, Grady and Marjorie already have a puzzle out and ready to go."

"Can I do that?"

"We have a lower table and you can work from the side." It wasn't ideal, but Theresa knew he'd be happy to just be in the room. Plus, she hoped Sookie would grab her guitar from the car since the kids loved to sing with her.

It took a while to get his wires in position so he could be lifted into the chair. The lifting was easy since he was small for a four year old. His medical issues had certainly taken a toll on his growth. As Theresa expected, Sookie ran out for a moment to grab her guitar and they all headed to the playroom. Since it had been several days since some of the kids had seen Hunter, he was greeted with some loud hooting and clapping. Both he and Sookie smiled at the welcome. He noticed his best friend Marjorie first; she was hard to miss with new purple hair. "HEY Marjorie, your hair is purple, and well – you have hair!"

"I know it's a new wig! I kinda like it."

"Me too. It's neat to have a friend with purple hair."

With Theresa's help, he worked on the puzzle with his closest buddies, all three children who spent day after day in the hospital. This afternoon he also met some new friends, kids who were only staying a few days for some minor illness or accident. After they'd been there for about an hour, Hunter got very tired so he laid back fully into his chair while Sookie pulled out the guitar. One thing they treasured from Gran was her love of John Denver. It was corny, Sookie knew it, but Hunter loved the songs and he was so young, his only memories of Gran were the stories Sookie told him. Those stories always included Gran dancing around the house with Hunter to her favorite musician. Sookie knew most of the song chords by heart and she gave Hunter the choice, as usual.

He picked one that he knew his friends also liked. "Rocky Mountain High." At that request, Sookie started singing and many in the room joined in. Some of the other kid's parents were also frequent visitors to the playroom so they were aware of the sing-along and participated happily with their kids. Several songs later, Theresa came back to inform everyone that dinner was on its way up from the cafeteria and everyone needed to head back to their rooms. Hunter protested – loudly. "I DON'T WANNA GO!"

"I know baby, but now we know you can spend time here with this fancy chair, so we can come back again. Right Theresa?"

"Yes, we just have to request one of these wheelchairs since we don't have one on this floor." She moved towards the chair. "So, we OK Hunter – to go back to your room?"

He moped but answered, "Yeah, I guess so."

"Hey baby, I'll keep the guitar in your room for a bit; we can do a few more songs." They'd made it back to his room and were helping him into bed at this point.

Hunter could see his dinner on the tray and it was the yucky meatloaf the hospital made for his renal diet. "The guitar almost makes up for that dinner."

"I'm sorry Hunter, I'm going to Gramma's tomorrow and will cook you something else."

"S'OK Mommy. At least there's jello. You eating tonight?"

"Yeah, let me go grab something." She returned with a yogurt and some cereal, a common dinner for her and they ate together, talking about the movie they planned to watch later. Hunter was pretty tired after dinner so he simply rested, tucked under the flip flop quilt, while Sookie picked up the guitar and started playing. To match her baby's mood, she thought of something softer to play and decided on I Won't Give Up by Jason Mraz.

She'd just finished the song when she heard a throat clear from the doorway. Honestly, she thought she was seeing things when she looked up. Eric Northman, the gorgeous vampire she'd seen in person at Good Shepherd, was standing in the doorway with flowers. He seemed taller than she remembered, very tall. Unlike the hospital appearance where it was tied back, his hair was loose and framed his head in a golden light. His outfit was less formal too; instead of a suit he was in jeans, a tee and a leather coat and she realized she preferred this outfit. At Good Sheppard, she was too far away to appreciate how beautiful his blue eyes were – and the fact that they were now focused on her made her tummy flip flop. This had to be a mistake. She even rubbed her eyes and looked again. Yep, he was still there. Shaking off her stupor – literally with a head shake, she remembered her manners. "Hi."

"Hi."

**And - there you have it folks - the reason this chapter gets me the frying pan reward. I PROMISE you get E/S/H time in the next chapter.**


	6. A Good Start

**Happy Groundhog Day! **

**Remember- move to my wordpress site (see my profile) soon. Chapter 8 will be the last chapter of MAW I post on fanfiction.**

**Thanks to so many of you for favoriting and following me. I really appreciate it.**

**I don't own these characters.**

Chapter 6 – A Good Start

Tissue warning: There's a few moments that may get you.

Frying Pan: I think the side of my head is safe from flying pans.

"Can I help you?"

Eric realized it was a good thing he didn't need to breathe because finally talking to her would have taken his breath away. As it was, his response stuck in his throat before he came out with the brilliant, "Ah." Then came to his senses. "I came to meet you both." As they just looked at each other for a moment he felt almost heaviness in the air – an excitement – and he was sure it wasn't just him. He was happy, very happy with her reaction though. As soon as those words were out of his mouth, her heartbeat picked up and he detected a slight flush in her cheeks. Drinking her in, finally in person, he realized that her hair was also much longer than any of the pictures he'd seen and he liked it. In addition to noticing her hair, he really liked that her eyes were staring at him almost with a look of disbelief but happy at the same time.

Hunter giggled and smiled from his bed and Sookie looked sideways at him while she answered. "I don't understand."

"I do Mommy."

She was dying to know but manners had her inviting him into the room before Hunter could explain. "Won't you have a seat?" She gestured to the chair on the other side of Hunter. As soon as he came in, Hunter and Sookie thought to each other about how neither of them could read his mind. Sookie described his brain as a void; she also recalled the same feeling early in the morning outside the window. Before he sat he removed his coat and uncovered some arm porn that would normally have her drooling, but she refrained. Eric saw her eyeballing his arms but he kept some of his typical comments to himself – for now.

"Thank you. These are for you." While he moved to sit he also extended the flowers across Hunter to Sookie; then he focused on Hunter. "So would you like to explain why I'm here?"

"He's my wish!" He giggled out.

"What? Oh and thank you for the flowers Mr. Northman."

"You're welcome and please call me Eric."

"Eric then. I'm Sookie and this is . . . "

"Your son Hunter."

"Yes, this is Hunter who needs to explain 'cause Mommy is very confused."

"I asked Make a Wish for a date, well a date for you with Eric Northman."

Eric had to contain his laughter when he looked at Sookie. Her jaw dropped, her eyes grew wide and a blush was blooming from her face down to her chest. As he took a moment to glance at her chest, he was pleased to see that the weight loss hadn't impacted that bountiful cleavage but he quickly admonished himself for going there already. After a moment to compose herself, Sookie finally spoke to Hunter. "You used your wish for me?" Her voice rose in surprise at his actions while she asked the question. Hunter nodded wildly. "Why did you do that? You could have requested anything like going to a Saints game and meeting the players. You love football – I really thought for sure that's what you'd asked for."

Eric noted that tidbit away. He could still grant that wish if the boy wanted it.

"I don't need anything Mommy. You gave up everything for me. When I'm gone, you're going to be so sad and I wanted you to have at least a great memory and maybe a new friend."

Well that did it. Her reaction changed from a combination of awed and embarrassed to sad and the waterworks started. Uncontrollable, messy crying.

Eric's normal reaction to any crying was to ignore it so really, he was at a loss now. He watched as she lowered the top half of her body onto Hunter's bed while she clutched her son's hand. Slowly, he reached over and took her other hand. It was warm and soft as his thumb made circles over the back of it. The big surprise was when she tightened her grip on his fingers. That he wasn't expecting. She calmed only a moment later and apologized as she lifted her head. Hunter broke the silence as she mopped up her face with a tissue Eric had grabbed for her. "This was supposed to be a good thing Mommy. Why are ya crying?"

"You gave me your wish. That's a big deal for Mommy."

In his innocence Hunter asked, "So are you guys going out right now?"

Sookie was silent so Eric answered. "I was hoping we could just visit tonight. What do you think Sookie?"

She shrugged and answered. "Sure. I guess I'd like to know how all this came about."

Before Hunter could begin, one of the nurses popped in. She'd seen the flowers and realized Sookie had no vase. "I know it's not beautiful, but it's the biggest beaker I could find." Sookie just looked at her confused until she continued. "For your flowers?"

"Oh! Thanks Theresa."

"My pleasure." Eric's back was to the door and when Theresa turned to Sookie just before walking out, she gave her a big smile and thumbs up.

"Let me just get these in water, then we can discuss this whole thing."

With the flowers now on the shelf by the window, Sookie settled back into her seat and turned to Hunter. "Ok baby, give me the scoop."

Hunter started. "Well, you really seemed to like Mr. Northman after we saw him at Good Shepherd and that gave me the idea for a wish. I already knew I was giving you my wish somehow. Mrs. Oleski helped me write a letter to Mr. Northman. That was a while ago though. I don't know what happened after."

Eric picked up the story from there. "Well, I can tell you. The letter was sent to my Viking Industries address and a receptionist threw it away – she did that three times and didn't forward the phone messages from Make a Wish. I've already spoken to her about making her own decisions about my mail and phone messages. I apologize for the delays her actions caused." Eric knew the receptionist had been trying to capture his attention for months and he was sure she disposed of the letter because it mentioned a date with Sookie. "When the Make a Wish people didn't hear back, the woman who runs the program for Louisiana got involved."

"Mrs. Burke." Hunter offered.

"Yes, Mrs. Burke. She came to see me at my bar since I hadn't responded otherwise."

"She went to Fangtasia?" Hunter asked out of curiosity.

Eric was surprised the boy would know such a detail. "How do you know that name?"

Sookie stiffened at the question and tried to think to Hunter to keep quiet on the answer he was about to give. She was too late; he just blurted out, "Mommy has that magazine you were in." He was referring to the Shreveport Monthly magazine that covered business, recreation and other articles of interest for northern Louisiana. A few months back, Eric had been featured as a prominent business man and exemplary vampire/human liaison with the local authorities. The blush that had finally gone away on Sookie returned immediately.

Eric couldn't help but play with her. "She does, does she?"

Hunter nodded and continued, much to his mother's horror. "Yep. When she saw you at Good Shepherd, well I told you in the letter, she thought you were beautiful. Well, Mommy and one of my doctors there were talking about you after you left. They both thought the same thing about you. Anyway, Doc Maria bought Mommy one of those magazines when it came out a few weeks later. She's had it ever since."

At this point, Sookie just planted her face into her palms, trying to hide from the conversation.

Eric couldn't be more pleased. At least they had a mutual interest in each other. That was a good start. Given her embarrassment, he decided to save her since it would be hard to get a conversation back on track with her face planted in her hands. He pulled his wallet out. "Sookie." No reaction. He wanted to laugh, but that wouldn't help her right now. "Sookie. Would it make you feel better if I showed you something in my wallet?"

That was a puzzling statement. "What could you possibly have in your wallet to make me feel better?" The words were muffled through her hands, but he understood.

"You'll have to take your hands from your face to look."

"I'm pretty comfortable like this thank you."

Now he did laugh. "But I came to talk to you, not the back of your hands. Please, trust me. You'll be laughing at my expense in a moment, either that or . . . well just look." It occurred to him that his 'stalker' behavior could horrify her but he took the chance.

She peeked, just moving her fingers enough to look down at his wallet. After placing it on the bed in front of her, he'd opened it to the picture in one of the photo sleeves. It was a picture of her. To see the picture better, she removed her hands from her face to pick up the wallet and inspect the photo. She was shocked. "Where did you get this?"

"Sam has a Facebook page with pictures. I was his 54th 'like'. I guess not too many in Bon Temps are Facebook users."

"No, a little too high tech for most us." She returned the wallet to Eric. "So you were checking us out?"

She was simply asking and didn't seem upset about it though. "I did. I have to admit it was for my own security when I looked into you. Especially given that this letter campaign from Hunter started after the article in Shreveport Monthly. I needed to be sure it wasn't a scam."

"I get that. But you printed a picture of me."

"And you kept a magazine with pictures of me. How about we admit to mutual interest?"

Her head cocked to the side as she thought that one through. "I'll give you that."

That was surprising to Eric. "That was easy."

"Eric, the past four years," She eyed her baby with love, "Have taught me to think about bigger pictures. Course, that magazine article focused on your business and Sheriff duties – not your life. My guess is your investigation gave you more than that on us. We'll have to even out that information."

"True. The article didn't call me Sheriff though; publicly we use the term liaison. How do you know about that?"

"My ex – Alcide Herveaux." She lowered her voice for the rest of her explanation. "I know he's a werewolf; we talked about other supernatural stuff."

"That's surprising. He shouldn't really share that."

"I didn't give him a choice. But enough about that, tell me about you."

Eric noted that she glossed over some big points in that exchange and he'd ask some other time.

Sookie continued on. "What prompted you to follow-up on Hunter's letter in the first place? I don't gather you have a shortage of available dates – at least that's what the article mentioned." Before he could answer Sookie blurted out her next thought. "Wait, you can fly!" Then she turned to Hunter. "That wasn't a dream?" He smiled and shook his head. "Huh, so you've really been checking us out – from the window?"

Eric was confused about how she figured that one out – but he was more worried that this would be the stalker bit that would get him kicked out. "I couldn't resist. It's not I lingered or anything. Hunter saw me twice – I even waved when he did, not realizing how potentially bad that could have been at the time." He paused when he saw she really appeared curious, not mad. "I happened to come by one night when . . . something happened with Hunter that day. You were so upset. I damn near came in right then but I refrained since you seemed . . . overwhelmed at the time and Jessica was with you."

Sookie blanched, the day still raw in her memory. She knew damn well it was a turning point, a bad one, in her boy's health. "Yeah, that would have been too much that day."

There was a moment of silence before he continued. "So you asked about me." She nodded. "Since most people ask, I'll start with my age. I've been a vampire for about 1000 years; I was turned when I was 24 years old."

"Well, I know where I'm going for history discussions now." Sookie smiled at him. Meanwhile, Hunter couldn't be happier to see them together while talking and smiling. His Mommy's genuine smile wasn't something they always saw these days. He could also read from his Mommy how happy she was to be getting to know him. This is exactly what he wanted. Mommy deserved to be happy and she would need someone special when he was gone.

He chuckled and continued. "I'm happy to share anything I know with you. I lived in Sweden as a Viking, but in truth I was a farmer and only went 'a Viking' some years. Others in my clan did more raiding than I did."

"What's considered rude to ask? I may know about vampires, but I've never spoken to one."

"Honestly, our human lives, our turnings, especially our makers - those topics are considered rude, but ask away. Mostly because you were correct before, I have a private investigator and I know a good deal about you Sookie. I'd apologize for that but like I said it started as a standard security measure. It grew out of extreme interest. So in exchange, go ahead and ask anything. I'll tell you if you ask something I just can't answer."

She nodded, acknowledging his statement. Truthfully, before Hunter, she would've kicked him out and screamed that he was a creepy stalker, but being a mother and going through the past four years had given her perspective. She really couldn't fault him for checking them out and hell, he expressed interest in her. That was startling and pretty exciting since she had what would be considered a crush on him, mostly based on his visit to the hospital and that article. The magazine pages may have been worn out from the amount of times she pulled it out to re-read it and look at the pictures.

"Did you have a family?"

"I did. I was married and had 6 children, though I lost two. One a boy in his fourth winter, one a baby right after she was born; my wife died with her." Even after all these years it still hurt to think of his children; the pain was evident on his face.

She reached over and patted the hand that was resting on Hunter's bed. "Oh, I'm so sorry."

He flipped his hand around so he could hold hers. Focusing on their clasped hands he added, "I won't say it didn't hurt but life was very hard then. Honestly, I was considered lucky to have had four children from one marriage survive as they did."

"So you were 24. That must mean you left a young family behind?"

"One of my brothers took in my children. I'll share more on my turning some other time." His eyes flickered to Hunter's face and she understood. She was surprised at herself for asking a question related to his human death, but her curiosity had her blurting out the question before thinking it through.

Hunter had had enough about families and stuff – he had questions of his own. "So how did you know you could fly?"

"Looking back on it, it's a funny story though scary at the time." He put a grin on his face as he looked at the fascination on Hunter's face. "It happened after I was a vampire for about 150 years. I was being chased. I'd stolen something from a wealthy property owner and he sent his guards after me." The story purposely left out that what he stole was his daughter's affections for a night. Hunter didn't need to hear that part. "Anyway, I got to a cliff; it was small one that dropped into a river. I had no choice but to jump for it figuring I'd heal when I got to the bottom. To my surprise, I never fell. It wasn't graceful, but I was suddenly floating. Eventually I learned how to turn it into flying instead of just flailing around in the air. I guess it's kind of like turning the doggy paddle into the breast stroke."

"WOW, I can't imagine finding out that way." Hunter's eyes were impossibly wide as he expressed his fascination.

He chuckled at the boy. "It was surprising."

At that, Hunter yawned deeply so Sookie jumped in. "I think we should start the movie we'd planned so you can relax. What do you think Hunter?" The boy nodded. "Eric, you're welcome to stay. We already picked out Monsters Inc. It's a children's movie about . . . "

"I'm familiar. I have a child, a vampire child," he quickly added, "and she's fascinated with all things Disney and Pixar. I swear I turned her before she'd grown up enough." He added with a chuckle that Sookie and Hunter joined; then replied to her invitation. "I'd love to stay."

Sookie moved to the closet in Hunter's room to grab the portable DVD player and that's when she discovered it was gone. Before she even said anything, Hunter knew. "Mommy? Where is it?"

"I don't know Hunt; gimme a minute to look around." She knew looking was pointless. This is why she'd gotten a padlock to the closet door; the hospital staff had warned her about thefts. When she opened the door just now, she realized in her excitement to get Hunter to the playroom earlier, she hadn't engaged the padlock. The player and ALL his films were stolen while they were out of the room. '_Great, just great. His only distraction during dialysis and I had to go and let it get stolen_.' The tears started again before she could even try to calm enough to stop them. Quietly crying, she stayed with her head and shoulders hidden in the closet until Eric cottoned on to what was happening.

"Mommy, it's OK. I'll just watch what's on the big TV's at dialysis. Please don't cry."

Eric stood and approached her. "His stuff is missing?" She nodded. "Is there not security here? Are his personal belongings always at risk?"

She sobbed out. "It's my . . . It's my fault. I did . . . didn't secure the padlock earlier."

With a gentle tug on her shoulder, he moved her around to him. "Come here." He said and enveloped her in a hug. This was her undoing. He was so strong and so comforting giving a hug without all the extra brain noise. While she loved her friends and they did hug her through her tears often, she never got the peace she was getting right now. Instead of stopping the tears, she let loose in his presence for the second time tonight. Eric figured with her life right now, this was going to be standard and he simply shushed her while stroking her back through the episode. This crying was an easy fix though; the boy would have a new player and movies in the morning, he'd deal with that after he left them for the night.

It went on for a few minutes until Sookie pulled back and noticed she'd ruined his shirt. "I'm sorry. You aren't fit to go anywhere now."

"You were the only thing on my schedule for the night anyway."

That earned him a watery smile as she moved for the tissues. "I'm so sorry baby." She turned to Eric. "We'd been working to build up his movie collection. Everyone knew that's what he wanted for birthdays and such. I can't believe I let them get stolen. Stupid."

"Sookie, you can't beat yourself up like that. The hospital should . . . "

"I was warned Eric. That's why we had the padlock. Things go missing; the hospital doesn't have the staff to deal with it. Lost and stolen items are not the responsibility of the hospital." With a rub of her face, like that would change her mood, she asked Hunter, "Well, what would you like to do now baby? We obviously can't watch a movie."

"Songs and a game?"

"Sure." She reached for the guitar and looked for her pick; she must have dropped it earlier when Eric came in. While she reached under the bed, Eric asked Hunter some questions. He needed to figure out what movies to get the boy.

"So Monsters Inc.? Is that your favorite movie?"

"I like tons of movies. Disney and Disney/Pixar stuff is really cool. Oh and the Ice Age movies."

Sookie sat back up. "Ok baby, what'll it be tonight?"

"That Pooh corner one."

"You got it."

She played and sang a few songs for him before he asked for a game. The pediatric playroom had a selection for the patients to borrow anytime, so Sookie left to go see what was available. Eric used the time wisely. "So Hunter, if your Mommy permits me come back tomorrow night, is there a treat I can bring her? What about you?"

"She's cooking for me tomorrow so don't worry about that. My diet is too hard. For Mommy – she loves this drink from Sonic – it's a Caramel Java Chiller. You bring her one of those and you'll be her best friend. I promise."

"Good man. Keep it a secret though." He winked at Hunter and had to contain his laugh when the boy tried to wink back – he couldn't get the one eye only part down.

"You two look like you've been up to something."

Eric covered for them. "Not at all. Just chatting. What game will we be playing tonight?"

"Monopoly Jr."

"Can't say I've ever played that."

"I didn't think you had Eric. It's got some of the same concepts but scaled down in time and ease for younger ones. This one has a Shrek theme."

"Yay!" Hunter yelled. "The other one they have here is the Princess edition. Marjorie makes me play that one sometimes."

"Why is that so bad?" Eric asked.

"Cause you have to be a Princess character when you play it. I'm a boy silly. I always insist on being Jasmine since her outfit is pants at least – and NOT PINK!"

They chuckled at him while setting up the game and explaining the rules to Eric. They had only gone twice around the board when Sookie noticed Hunter had fallen asleep right in his semi-sitting up position. "Well, that damn drug strikes again. He sleeps all night then again for about half the day. It's supposed to get better – when his body adjusts at bit – but that hasn't happened yet." With sadness that her day with Hunter was over, she tucked him under the covers for the night. "He's fully out if you want to talk, or I know you said you had no other plans but it's pretty early for you so I understand if you want to get to your bar."

"Why would I want to go the bar when you've invited me to stay?"

"Great." She beamed at him and it was a look he wanted to see all the time. "I just need to run my guitar out to the car."

"I'll do that and come right back." Removing the stretchy bracelet from her wrist that held her keys, she handed them to him and described her car. He let her get through the description even though he already knew the yellow rust bucket in the parking lot was hers.

"Thanks. The parking lot gives me the creeps at night."

When he returned, he saw that Sookie had moved their chairs to be next to each other instead of across Hunter's bed. Before the getting to know you conversation, Eric mentioned that her guitar would be impacted by living in the car.

"You play?"

"I do. I also know that even with my guitars being kept in my home, they are still impacted by humidity changes, so I know your guitar must need adjusting to the truss rod."

"It does, I don't have a choice though. The closet here is not wide or deep enough for a guitar. Lucky for me, Hoyt is kinda a music guru and he does it for free. You know who he is, right?" Eric confirmed with a nod. "He teaches guitar and piano lessons on the side."

"That's good." By now, Eric had settled into his seat next to hers, but angled for their conversation. They talked about Eric's move to the states, the planning that went into the Great Vampire Reveal and his decision to open the vampire themed bar. "It was nice at first, actually more than nice. I was excited about something and that hadn't happened in a long time."

"What happened to take away the excitement?"

"At Pam's suggestion, and it seemed like a good one at the time, I combined my Sheriff duties with the bar – specifically publicly within the bar. This was different than the prior set-ups I've had in the bars I've owned. Normally, I would take Sheriff meetings in a back office, out of sight from humans. Once I agreed, the suggestion got a little out of control. Pam bought a throne for me and I would sit out in the bar area watching the activities and the vampires could approach me as they needed. I had a privacy spell to keep our conversations quiet."

"Wait, did you say spell?" He nodded. "I guess witches really do exist then. Alcide and I never covered that."

"Yes they do, and the magic is very real. Maybe we can cover more about supernaturals some night, since Alcide opened the door."

"Sure, but get back to your throne, your majesty." She giggled when she said it and he gave her a sideways grin.

"Hardly, and I'll cover that some night as well." He shifted in his chair before he continued. "Well, I started this" he searched for the word, "expectation I guess, with the humans. Many came in just to watch me and approach me on my throne."

"You're kidding! They would do what? Walk up and offer their necks?"

"Some would crawl."

"GET OUT!" She covered her mouth while he laughed at her. Hunter moved a bit but didn't wake. She resumed at a softer volume. "On the floor, they would crawl to you?"

"That was Pam's fault; she started rumors that I liked it."

"Mischievous."

"Among other things, yes." His face showed displeasure for just a second, but Sookie caught it before he returned to his normal features. "Well, now there are nights that Pam says the crowd is almost out of control until I get there. I've since returned my sheriff duties to scheduled meetings, mostly late on Sunday and Monday nights, or rather early mornings, but it doesn't help with the human problem."

"Well you are pretty to look at."

"Oh really?" He preened at her words with a smile that told her he was being funny, not cocky (this time).

"Pfft." She waved her hand around. "You don't need me to feed that ego I can tell. You've got women crawling to you for attention."

His face turned serious as he responded. "I don't care about them. I can barely tolerate that part of my life anymore."

"That's sad. What do you do for fun?"

"Stalk pretty women, or rather **A** pretty woman. Fly outside her window."

"Sounds almost as lame an enjoying cooking days in Gramma Fortenberry's kitchen. We're a pair."

She turned a bit melancholy at that point, so he moved the discussion to another topic that he wanted to explore. "Tell me about your college days."

"Well, I was awarded a scholarship to LSU, but you knew that didn't you?"

"Yes, and that you studied English Lit but I don't know anything more. Did you go right after High School? How far did you get?"

"I did start right away; literally the summer after I graduated I was so excited. I worked part time at Merlotte's in Bon Temps and commuted to the Shreveport campus since room and board weren't part of the scholarship. I was three years into my four year degree when I got Hunter. I mean, you know I didn't give birth to him I guess." He nodded. "Before I dropped out, I had been looking at graduate school programs. I was torn between teaching High School English with a BA and teaching certificate or continuing on and maybe teaching at a University. I never had to make the decision. Life decided for me."

Her hand was hanging off the end of the chair arm as she spoke and he reached over to take hold of her fingers, unable to resist. "Still, that was a big decision, something you didn't have to take on."

"There was no choice. My cousin Hadley, Had for short, walked into Gran's house with the baby, said it was me or an orphanage. I grabbed him and never looked back. He was about three months old, but really the size of a newborn since he was a preemie and she'd done so many drugs while pregnant it really impacted his birth weight. I learned later that he'd been sick since birth, not that Had told me that before she walked out of his life. We haven't heard anything from her since."

"So her name was Hadley. Hale is your grandmother's maiden name, but there is no Hadley Hale in the area. How did she get away with not using her real name at the hospital?"

"She was with a vampire." His face conveyed his shock. "Yes, before the reveal I knew about you guys. The vampire was in the car when she dropped off the baby, but I never met him. I asked about records and such and she was pretty cryptic but she did tell me the vampire glamoured the hospital on the details. The only part of his records that wasn't a lie was his father's name: Remy Savoy. He was killed and I suspect it was a vampire that at least participated. Had told me Remy had beaten her several times. I don't know when or how the vampire piece came in but my guess is it was payback. Anyway, that's where the Savoy name comes from. I'm trying to adopt Hunter because that's one of his dying requests. Well it's my wish too." He vowed to himself then that even if he needed to glamour the entire of State of Louisiana, they would both get that wish.

Her voice quavered when she spoke of Hunter's dying and he grasped her full hand to hold it, but she kept on talking to finish her sentence. The whole story was curious and he had a ton of questions, but it seemed like Sookie really didn't know much. He was a pretty good judge of people, and Sookie seemed to be sharing, not withholding information. "Most people wouldn't have given up what you did for a sickly baby."

"I'm not most people."

"No you're not. You're an angel"

She gave out a burst of laughter. "Hardly."

"You are. I've decided. Anyone who is this selfless to provide for a child is an angel here on earth. And angels do exist Sookie. Hunter is lucky to have you." Another subject change was called for, given serious discussion started to way heavy on both of them. "So, what's your favorite book?"

And just with that question, her smile returned and the conversation continued. Eric stayed for a few hours. They spent a great amount of time talking about a shared love of books, even debating the merits of their favorites. The conversation flowed easily, nothing forced, nothing uncomfortable until it was approaching almost midnight.

The nurses on the floor had been ignoring Hunter's room once they saw how happy Sookie was with this guest. Several had seen the Shreveport Monthly that Sookie kept in the room and they knew why she kept it. Truth was, most of them shared Sookie's fascination with the vampire. They didn't know why he was there and the gossip flowed. Eric, with his superior vampire hearing, listened into them occasionally but kept their tittle-tattle to himself for now.

With the new shift, Nancy, who was on for the night needed to check on Hunter before it got too long into her shift so she hesitantly knocked on the door alerting them. "Sorry to interrupt Sookie, but I have to just check on Sir Hunter here."

"Oh, Nancy, you're already here?"

"It's after midnight Sookie."

"WOW, It's late, I didn't even notice." She turned to Eric and smiled. "Must be the company." He returned the smile as they looked at each other. "Mr. Northman, would you like to accompany me to the glamorous nurse's lounge so I can grab a water while she gets some vitals from Hunter?"

"He won't wake and wonder where you are?"

"Not with the meds he's on now, he loves Nancy anyway."

"Then I would love to."

Hand in hand, they made their way to the nurse's lounge, Sookie having an open invitation to enter from the nurses. She grabbed a cup and filled it from the water cooler and gulped it down. "We've been talking for so long I forgot to drink anything."

"I'll endeavor to keep you hydrated the next time."

"So will there be a next time?"

"Well, we have the obligatory date for Hunter's wish."

Her face fell immediately, self doubt creeping into her mind. Here she thought they'd been getting along nicely and it occurred to her that this was all for him to fulfill the commitment he'd made – which was nice – but she didn't want to have anyone take her on a date out of obligation. Eric noticed the mood change immediately. Gone was the smiling and light Sookie and in place was a colder, darker version. "I don't need you to do anything out of obligation Mr. Northman. Your visit has been very nice and great distraction for an evening, but you're under no requirement to continue."

He could see why she thought that so he quickly corrected her thinking. "Sookie, you took my comment literally. I already told you I'm interested in you. Tonight has made that interest even stronger and if I may boldly add; I believe it's mutual. I meant that as a lighthearted comment in regards to your son's wishes. Please don't think I'm here out of the need to fulfill an obligation. I wouldn't do that to you, Hunter or even myself."

Quickly realizing the advantage to telepathy and missing it for the moment, she stared at him trying to decipher the truth of his words. He was right, the attraction – the interest was mutual. The problem was she had little to offer him in return. This was the difficulty, well one of them, with Alcide; he always wanted more of just Sookie. Much to Alcide's displeasure, she wouldn't sacrifice her son for a relationship. One thing in Eric's favor that Alcide didn't have though – she eventually got to the point where she could hear every thought of Alcide's – even though in the beginning his thoughts were more just colors that words. Eric, Eric was a blissful, peaceful big old blank. Heaven. After her internal debate, she admitted, "The interest is mutual. I don't know what I have to offer you though; I need to be upfront about that."

"How about I visit again tomorrow? My bar is closed and I don't have sheriff meetings until 1AM. Surely, if nothing else, we can enjoy talking."

"I'd like that." Pointing to the mess she'd made of his shirt, she added, "You might want to pack an extra shirt though."

"A good suggestion. Who knew you would be so messy? None of my reports provided that tidbit."

Their tones were light and they laughed softly and smiled as they joked together. "Fire that PI, he missed a well known fact about Sookie Stackhouse." She tossed her now empty cup into the trash, "I should get back. I need to get a shower and some sleep."

With his hand out, he offered, "I'll walk you."

She took it and they walked slowly back to Hunter's room. When they got to the door, Eric lifted the hand he was already holding and kissed the back. "Until tomorrow night."

"Until then."

OOOoooOOOooo

At 1AM his shopping choices were limited. He knew Pam would probably smell Wal-Mart on him, but he wanted to make the movie selections himself and include a note. The DVD player, every Disney/Pixar and Dreamworks film were loaded into his cart while he struggled over the other selections. Of course, anything princess was left on the shelf, since Hunter had clearly expressed his view on Princesses. That left him with reading summaries for any of the ones he didn't remember from Pam's collection. A vampire reading the movie labels for children's movies did cause a few strange looks, but he didn't even notice while he chose anything he thought Hunter would like.

He had considered a tablet device with downloaded movies but decided that would probably be too easily stolen. If someone managed to leave her room with a player and 22 movies without being noticed, a tablet would probably be gone after the first day. That could be sold for too much.

Once the cart was full of movies, he checked out and headed to Fangtasia. He decided to catch up on paperwork so he would have more time in his early evenings later in the week.

"Why do you smell like a hospital?" Pam scowled as she asked Eric.

"I was at a hospital."

"Doing what?"

"Nothing that concerns you Pam. How is business tonight?"

"You're just changing the subject. Wait, what's on your shirt and do I smell human tears?" She moved closer to his chest to check the source of the scent further. "Did some vampire harm a human and you did what, console her or something? What the fuck Eric."

"I told you it doesn't concern you." The discussion was pissing him off and as usual, Pam was oblivious to the fact. She did, however, remind him that he needed to change his shirt before he went out with other vampires. Hell, he hadn't even thought about smelling like a hospital either since he purposely did not take in any scents while there. Since he hadn't even planned to come into the bar, he decided not to leave the office. Gods knew he had plenty of work to do.

"THAT'S really all you're going to say?"

"Either stay and work on the inventory with me or leave my office."

Pam knew she should probably work with Eric, but she had seen a gorgeous red head with squeezable breasts and she wanted her. If she stayed, the red head might leave the bar before she had a chance. PLUS, her maker was really just grumpy and not someone with whom she wanted to spend any time. "I'll work the door."

"Fine, but you better work the door, not troll the floor in search of a feed and fuck."

"ERIC! I need to eat."

"I felt you feed already tonight. I think you're done." Her mouth dropped open and she stood still just staring at him. "What Pam? I gave you a choice, you chose the door so get. Ginger cannot work the door; she doesn't have the brains to be trusted. I've told you this already."

She left slamming the door behind her and he sighed. As her maker, he questioned where he'd gone wrong. One more month was all he was going to give her; one more month for her to take the initiative to do the monthly reports. This monthly report would be a good test since if she didn't do it; he could quickly put it together and get it to the Queen only a day or so late – having the vampire Summit next week gave him an excuse. That wasn't an option for the quarterly report since he delivered that at the meeting: It needed to be in hand, at the meeting, no excuses. Yes, one more month and if she failed, he'd find a new second to replace her.

Making that decision actually gave him some relief on his Pam worries so he was able to focus on the inventory and get his orders in for the week. After Pam left Fangtasia, he went to his car and retrieved his bags, leaving them on the desk for Bobby to collect and deliver later.

He returned home close to sunset and wrote an email to Bobby:

_Bobby,_

_I left several Wal-Mart bags on my desk. Please package and wrap them as a gift and deliver to Hunter Savoy, Room 345 at Shreveport Parish hospital, but be sure to refer to him as Hunter Stackhouse when you speak to him. The package must be there before Noon. There's a note addressed to Hunter for the package, and another to be handed to his mother, Sookie Stackhouse._

_That's it for your day._

_Eric_

He knew Hunter's dialysis was shortly after lunch so he wanted the boy to have his films in plenty of time to get the player ready to use. Other than the loss of Hunter's movies and the player, the evening went very well. Of course he hated that Hunter's belongings were stolen, but the other parts were perfect. She didn't rebuff him – even when he admitted he'd had her researched. In fact, she was actually quite open to him. Surprisingly, he got to hug her and hold her hand and that he enjoyed very much. Somehow she knew he was outside the window though, and that puzzled him, but he'd think about that later. Just before the day finally pulled him under, he grabbed the wallet from his nightstand to look at the picture. To the empty room he said, "Even better in person."

Previous

Next


	7. Smitten

**Remember to move to wordpress (see my profile) as Chapter 8 will be the last one I post of MAW on fanfiction. Wordpress also has a page for my secrets - and you might need to check that out for what you read in the chapter. I explain myself there.**

**Thanks for all the new followers and favorites and reviews! I appreciate all of them.**

**It's a busy weekend so this might be the only post for the week. My older child is having her slumber birthday party tomorrow - and then - Girl Scout Cookies. Just checking, a serving of Thin Mints is a sleeve of them - right?**

**Enjoy!**

**M**

Chapter 7 - Smitten

Tissue - Light warning.

Frying Pan - I think I'm safe.

Just after breakfast there was a knock on Hunter's door. Sookie exited the bathroom to see who was there. "Can I help you?"

"I have a delivery for Mr. Hunter Stackhouse."

Hunter clapped his hands in his bed at seeing the big white box with a huge red bow. "That's me!"

"Well then Mr. Hunter, this box is for you and I have a card for your," he turned to look at Sookie, "mother I presume?"

"YEP, that's my mommy. Mommy, come help me with the box."

Sookie was pretty sure she knew who sent the packages and a quick dip into the delivery man's mind confirmed it. She also heard something about the auction at her farmhouse, well Furnan's farmhouse now. That was puzzling, but the man changed thoughts to her breasts and her shields went right up. "Sure honey, manners first though. I'm Sookie Stackhouse and you are?"

"Bobby Burnham. I'm just to ensure these items were delivered. Nice to meet you."

"And you as well. Thank you."

"You're welcome. I'll leave you to your day." He spun around quickly and left.

Sitting on the edge of the bed and pointing to the box, she offered, "So you want help?"

"Yeah, the ribbon's too tight."

Sookie needed to borrow scissors from the nurse's desk and they got the wrapping off the box, then she told him to wait. "We need to read the card."

"You should read yours first, I won't listen."

"Ok." She unsealed her envelope and pulled out the handwritten note:

_Dear Sookie,_

_I'm very glad that Hunter wrote a letter to me, otherwise I fear we never would have met. Meeting you was more than I had hoped for when I first read Hunter's letter and I can't wait for more visits so we can both get to know each other better._

_Now, you may be unhappy with receiving a gift as I have purchased for Hunter, but that's what it is: A gift for Hunter. So please remember that before you react when I see you tonight._

_Have an uneventful day at the hospital and enjoy your time with Mrs. Fortenberry._

_I look forward to seeing you after sunset._

_Yours,_

_Eric_

_PS: I forgot to give you my phone number. I enclosed my card and added my personal mobile number. Feel free to call me anytime._

"Ok kid, nothing earth shattering in my letter. Just a reminder that he purchased this gift for you. So go ahead."

"You won't make me give it back?"

"Nah, this was your wish. I'll keep that in mind." The note was handwritten to Hunter, just as hers had been and she was sure it was Eric's own handwriting.

_Hunter:_

_This is not exactly a gift as it is a replacement for what you lost yesterday. I did my best to find movies that I think you will like. I also was sure to include __Monsters Inc__. since we were supposed to watch that last night and I hope you will allow me to watch it with you and your Mommy tonight._

_I don't need to be at work until well after you go to bed, so I look forward to spending some time with you this evening._

_Your friend,_

_Eric._

Hunter squealed when he took off the lid. MOVIES! More movies than he'd had before. Some were older ones and Sookie had to laugh. She explained she watched them when she was younger. At Hunter's request, Sookie reviewed the instructions for the new player and plugged it in so it would be charged for his dialysis that afternoon. Next they reviewed each movie that was new to him and he chose one new, One Hundred and One Dalmatians, and one familiar film, Cars, for his day. Sookie heard he was sad about not having Tangled, but there was no way Eric could possibly know he liked it. Obviously, princess themed movies were avoided given his gender. Hunter hadn't been this excited about anything for a long time. Every nurse and orderly who stepped into the room was told about his new friend Eric and the movies he'd sent. It was a really good morning, the best they'd had in a while. Hunter's mood brightened the whole floor too, as frequently happened in a pediatric ward. Johnny and Grady stopped by and they wanted to meet Eric, so they arranged with some folks to have an after dinner visit in the playroom while Eric was at the hospital that night. One of Hunter's nurses ensured they would procure the special wheel chair for the event.

Shortly after lunch, Hunter headed to dialysis with his new DVD player and movies in hand and Sookie headed for her usual visit to Maxine's.

OOOoooOOOooo

"What's got you singin' in the kitchen Sookie?"

"Maxine, I sing in your kitchen all the time."

"You do when you think I'm asleep and you've turned on your music. Something's got ya so happy you're just singin' on your own in there."

Sookie joined Maxine in the living room and braced herself. Keeping the fact that Eric had visited and that he was a vampire wasn't something she could do with Maxine. Hunter would spill it the next time he saw her. "Well, you know Hunter made a wish from the Make a Wish group?"

"Oooooo what is it? Tell me, is it all planned?"

"Well, it's not what any of us thought or even considered and it's in progress."

"Now I'm really curious. Tell me."

Sookie went on to explain Hunter's wish, the letter and the surprise visitor they had last night at the hospital. To say Maxine was curious was an understatement. She exclaimed 'oh my', 'goodness me', 'he didn't', and 'how tall' throughout the tale. So far, the story was easy to tell and Sookie knew Maxine was excited for her (she was listening to be sure, something she didn't do often). Now was the hard part. "The thing is, Maxine . . . you see . . . ah, Eric is a vampire."

Maxine was silent at that revelation. Personally, she was curious about vampires and a little scared. When she thought about it, she knew her friend and Sookie's grandmother, Adele, would be fascinated and accepting. To be open and more like Adele was a promise she'd made to her friend when they buried her. Right now was her chance to follow-through. She smiled genuinely and responded to Sookie's comment. "I don't see how that matters. He seems like a good enough fella to me. Already replaced Hunter's stolen property too. I think you should allow him to visit as often as he wants."

Releasing the breath she was holding while waiting for Maxine, Sookie added, "The best part is – I can't hear him. His thoughts are silent!"

"Well then it seems you were made for each other. Cain't wait to meet him maself."

Sookie was astonished that Maxine was so accepting and she even said as much. That turned into a discussion about how Maxine was trying to be a better person and more like Adele in respect for her memory. They shed a few tears as they discussed Adele and Maxine assured Sookie that her Gran would have been proud of her for taking care of Hunter as she'd been doing. Finally, Sookie ended the hug fest as she called it, so she could get shepherd pie: The dialysis version, in the oven.

OOOoooOOOooo

In addition to his usual message from Bobby, Eric had a voicemail from Sookie when he rose; thanking him for his thoughtfulness and expressing how excited she was to see him again. Hearing her voice put a smile on his face and he was happy she'd agreed to see him again tonight; he only needed the sun to set and he'd be on his way. While he waited he got ready for the evening then did some work.

The first order of business was the voicemail on Sookie's farmhouse so he followed up with his dayman. Bobby's message was that Furnan Developers had filed for and received permission to demolish the farmhouse on the property; they weren't keeping the structure as was originally planned. The news was suspicious since the filing AND the approval all happened that very day, almost like someone had been bribed to rush through the approval process. When Eric told Bobby to call his lawyer, Desmond Cataliades, to fight the ruling, Bobby surprised him by saying he'd already called the lawyer as a head's up and he only needed to call again to confirm the need for legal action. Bobby had even contacted the Bon Temps historical society to inform them of Furnan's plans and that he would be available to assist them. Eric was impressed; he'd gone from screw-up to competent in days. He wondered if his child really had pulled Bobby into too many directions, thereby preventing him from getting his work done adequately. He spent a moment pondering whether to tell Sookie or not about Furnan's plans and decided not to tell her. He hoped they could stop the wrecking ball.

With about 30 minutes 'til sunset, he reviewed emails from his businesses and called Pam to remind her that the Sheriff meetings for the night would be starting at 1AM and that YES her attendance was required. With the unpleasantness done and the sun out of the sky, he headed to the hospital; making a planned stop on the way.

As he approached the door, Sookie was cleaning up Hunter's dinner tray and when she looked up, she greeted him with a smile that lit up the room. If his heart beat, it would speed up just as he heard hers doing right now. As it was, he could feel a tightening in his chest at her smile. That combined with Hunter's excitement at his arrival had him matching their grins. "Good evening. How was your day?"

"Hi Eric. We had a great day; somebody sent us some really cool stuff. Isn't that right baby?"

"YEAH! Thanks for the movies and the player."

"My pleasure. I have something for Sookie tonight as well."

Her eyes narrowed in suspicion. "This was Hunter's wish, not mine."

"Oh, so should I give this Caramel Java Chiller to one of the nurses at the desk?"

If it was possible, her face lit up even more, though she quickly sent an accusatory look at her son. "No freakin' way, pass that baby over here please." She held her hand out and shook it like a child would to hurry up the delivery. He laughed at her enthusiasm and winked at Hunter. "Oh, I already got that he put you up to this but a surprise like this, "she wiggled her cup in the air, "I can handle, and it's still early enough tonight that I can drink it. Thank you very much"

Clearly confused, Eric asked, "I don't understand."

"This is loaded with caffeine, I can't drink this then expect to sleep anytime soon, but since it's not even 7PM, I can still enjoy it."

He tucked that information away in case he ever arrived later in the evening. "Good to know." Eric opened his mouth to continue when they heard someone right outside the door call to Hunter.

Hunter smiled. "Gramma, is that you?"

She entered the room and beamed at her grandbaby. "It sure is."

Sookie was concerned at her unplanned arrival. "Is everything OK Maxine, where's Hoyt?"

"No Hoyt tonight."

"You shouldn't be driving at night, we've discussed . . . "

"Hang on there little girl. I didn't drive. First, introduce me to your friend, please."

Southern manners kicked in immediately. "Of course. Mr. Eric Northman, may I present Maxine Fortenberry, adopted grandmother to Hunter and me."

"It's a pleasure to meet you in person Mrs. Fortenberry."

"Eric. Remember I said to call me Maxine, please."

"Of course. Your trip here was without problems?"

"How could a woman have problems in a limousine Eric?"

"Just checking."

At first, Sookie thought she was just introducing the two, but now it was apparent something was up. "Would either of you mind explaining what's going on?"

"Eric sent a limo to drive me to the hospital tonight. He called me after he woke to arrange it himself."

"That part I got."

"I'll explain, but first let's get Maxine into a seat so she can say hi Hunter." Maxine immediately did the kissing thing with Hunter making him giggle and call her goofy Gramma as he usually did. With that taken care of, he moved to the other side of the bed, next to Sookie, to tell her his plan. "I was hoping after we watched a movie as I had promised Hunter, that you would be willing to take a drive with me this evening."

"YAY!" Hunter yelled. "Is this your date?"

His head shook before he answered, "No Hunter, I have something to show your mother but this is not the date." Sookie was still quiet so he continued. "I had Maxine driven here in case you did decide to go for the drive, but it's not a bribe or anything, we can just do the movie as planned. It's not a problem to have Maxine some other night. I know you don't like to leave."

"Mommy, I'm fine with Gramma. Like Eric said, I know you don't like to leave me, but you deserve some fun too. Wait. Eric, this is for fun, right?"

Eric was unsure how to answer since he hoped Sookie would like what he had to show her, but it may be hard for her, not necessarily fun. He decided on vague. "I certainly hope your mother likes what I have planned."

"You two are impossible! I'm right here while you're both having a conversation about me, and fine, we'll go. But instead of a movie, Hunter was hoping you would meet his friends from the hospital tonight. We planned time in the playroom for this evening. He'll likely be worn out from that and be asleep before we even leave."

"Well then, the playroom it is. What do we need to do to get there?"

"I'll tell Nancy, she's working tonight. We need a special wheel chair from a different floor."

Before she left the room, Reverend Collins from her church in Bon Temps walked in the room. "Oh, you have a full house Sookie. I won't stay long. I just wanted to update you on yesterday's bake sale while I was in visiting another church member."

"OH! Who's here?"

"Ted Brumbly. He'll be fine. He's being released tomorrow."

"That's good. Reverend Collins, this is my friend Eric Northman. Eric, this is the Reverend from our Church, Reverend Collins."

They exchanged pleased to meets you's and the Reverend didn't even flinch when he shook Eric's hand and realized he was a vampire. Instead, he happily handed Sookie a bank receipt. "Sookie, yesterday's bake sale was a hum dinger. We sold out and earned over $10,000."

She turned and narrowed her eyes at Eric. "WHAT? I wasn't there, obviously."

"Did you send someone?"

"I did not ask anyone to go to your bake sale, but I'm sure I know who did." He turned to the Reverend. "Was a very large man on a Harley at the bake sale yesterday? Long, dark hair?"

"Yes, and he had a difficult time with the cupcakes he bought and the bike, so he just stood there and ate them before he left. The man bought four of them and paid $2,500 a piece. Handed. Me. Cash. I took the money right to the bank for you this morning."

"Sookie, I promise you, he did that on his own. He's my . . . ah investigator and he was also looking for ways to help you. Let him have this, please." She nodded to him.

The Reverend spoke again. "Well, I do need to get going, just wanted to stop by with the good news."

"Thank you Reverend." She stood to head out. "I'll go get Nancy now for the chair."

"Very well, while you arrange that, I need to retrieve something from my car."

"Oh! Can you grab my guitar from my car while you're out there?"

Eric contained his smirk and simply said yes as she handed him her keys. When he returned to the room, Hunter's wheel chair was just being delivered. Before moving the boy, the nurse had some adjustments to make to his traveling monitors so Eric handed Sookie her guitar. "What's this?"

"It's a backpack guitar. Same sound, smaller package. It should fit in the closet."

She was stunned into silence for a moment before she responded. "I can't accept this."

"You can. I can't allow your other guitar to live such an unprotected life. It's cruel to the instrument. I put your guitar in my car to be kept in a home until you make other arrangements."

"That's a unique argument."

"Is it working?"

"Mommy, what's the big deal? You let me keep the movies."

"This is all your wish, not mine."

"Ok, then I WISH for Eric to shower you with presents." Nancy chuckled at that one even though she was pretending to ignore the conversation. "Try it out, play something for us in the playroom. Please Mommy? I hate that you need to leave the room so late at night to put the guitar in your car. This is a bad neighborhood." Eric thought he might pay the boy for his encouragement. He also thought he could take some lessons in manipulation from him as he watched Sookie cave in right before his eyes.

She answered through gritted teeth. "FINE."

After Nancy was done, Sookie moved to pick up Hunter but Eric stopped her. "Show me how."

The cords to his monitors were the biggest issue with moving him, requiring a second person; in this case Nancy moved the cords while Eric lifted Hunter. Eric couldn't believe how light the boy was, but he kept any comments to himself; other information he knew indicated the boy had a low birth weight to begin with; then his illnesses prevented him from growing as he should. He simply settled him in then started pushing the chair down the hall while Sookie led them. Johnny and Grady were in the playroom with their parents when Hunter, Sookie and Eric walked in. Johnny smiled at Hunter. "He is tall, Hunt."

"Told ya." He gestured to Eric, still behind the chair. "Everybody, this is Eric Northman. Eric, this is Johnny and Grady and their parents, the Fillmans and the Morgans."

"Pleased to meet you."

"Mommy, where's Marjorie?"

"It's a chemo day for her, and she had an especially bad reaction today, she's a little too sick to join us." Nancy had interjected and answered the boy. Hunter also heard that her bad reaction was due to the increase in the chemo since Marjorie wasn't responding as the doctor's had hoped. That made him sad for his little purple-haired friend.

Eric could see Hunter deflate at the nurse's answer and he wanted to move onto something that would distract him. To speak to Hunter directly, he moved from the back of the wheelchair and squatted down. "What do we do first in here?"

"I don't know about you, but I want to hear that new guitar." He turned to his Mommy. "Will you play for us?"

"Of course. What's the request tonight?"

"Eric, what do you want to hear?"

"I have no idea what your Mother knows. You pick for us."

"Home."

"Yikes – OK, but I've only been working on that one for a short while. Lemme grab the chords." She moved to the piano in the room and lifted the bench seat that was actually a lid for the storage below. Since she had been working on this song, the music was on top. The music sheets in the bench were all gifts from Hoyt. As he was always picking up the latest sheet music for himself, he bought extras for Sookie.

She fiddled with her finger placement and hummed a moment to herself before she started in on the song. Since she never got to play or practice in private, she was well over an embarrassment from the few mistakes that she did make and the gang in the room applauded for her. "Wow Eric, you were right. It's a much more compact design and it still sounds great. Thank you again."

"My pleasure."

She turned to the group watching her. "OK, now one that everyone can sing."

"Hey Jude." Grady requested. He was a huge Beatles fan.

The songs continued for a short while before Sookie announced that she needed a break and it was time for something else. Having enjoyed the concert, Eric was disappointed but understood when Sookie said it was time to move on. Since Hunter had beamed when introducing him to his friends, Eric knew the boy was pleased to be showing him off so he continued to indulge him. Instead of chatting with Sookie while the boys played, Eric sat with Johnny, Hunter and Grady doing a puzzle. The four of them were fascinated at meeting the ancient vampire and he shared some of the tamer stories of his long life. They all wanted him to bring his sword at his next visit but he quickly informed them that the hospital would not allow that. He was pretty sure the parents wouldn't either. He found himself genuinely enjoying the discussion with the three friends. Hunter, of course, asked him to tell the story about how he discovered his flying ability, which he did. He also added a short demonstration which was really only floating in the air since the room was too small for Eric's large frame to fly.

While the boys played, Maxine had pulled Sookie aside from her chat with the other parents at one point and told her how happy she was to see Sookie smile – a real smile. "It's been too long since I've seen that smile Sookie. You deserve some happiness. When you guys go out, I don't want you rushing back for me. You know damn well I can sleep in that chair and the limo driver will see me home safely." Sookie started to protest and Maxine cut her off. "I have nothing on my plate for tomorrow. You have fun. I can sleep the day away." With his superior vampire hearing, Eric head the conversation and was thrilled, it was part of the reason for getting her a limo, and he'd hoped they could be out for a while. He knew Sookie needed to sleep, but he wanted to see if she could make it til midnight like they'd done last night.

"Speaking of sleep. . . " She looked to Hunter. His eyelids were drooping even while trying to keep up with the guys. "I better get him back."

Eric looked up from the table where they were working and she nodded. "Hunter, we're going to take you back."

He wanted to argue, but he was too sleepy. "Ok. Will I see you tomorrow?"

"I can come by for a short while, but I'll need to work tomorrow at the bar." He looked at Sookie. "I mean, if that's OK with you?"

"Sure. Too bad you have to work early." She even added for good measure.

He was happy to hear that she was enjoying their time together. "Yes, well I have to get the payroll done and added to the Viking Industries payrun." They'd begun the trek down the hall to Hunter's room.

"You personally do the payroll?" Sookie was shocked and it showed on her face.

"I shouldn't, it's a long story." He really didn't want to get into the Pam situation with Sookie tonight, possibly not ever.

"Mommy can do payroll. She does it for Sam." Hunter added from his chair.

Sookie knew he was meddling again – hoping she could start doing some work for Eric. "Baby, a company owner can't just have anyone do the payroll. It took Sam three years before he asked for the help. Stop being a nudge." Maxine giggled at Hunter's attempts and just patted his hand. Sookie turned to Eric while he pushed the chair to Hunter's room. "Sam has only a handful of employees, so I do it after the lunch shift on Friday and just write the checks out for Sam to sign. He doesn't use a service or anything like that." She was downplaying her role; she actually did most of the book entries for Sam, as many as she could while Hunter was in dialysis. The restaurant was dead after lunch on Friday, so he paid her more than her waitress wage for the bookkeeping work.

Once in the room, Eric test fitted the guitar into Hunter's mini closet after Sookie told him the lock combination, Maxine settled into the chair by Hunter's bed and Sookie fussed, getting the boy ready for bed. "Mommy, I'm fine, just go for your drive."

"I'm allowed to get you ready for bed."

"I've been ready for bed and if you tuck me in any more I won't be able to move at all while I sleep."

Eric's laughter was cut off by Sookie with a stern look. "I'm just making sure you'll be comfortable."

Hunter actually rolled his eyes. "Gramma and I will be fine. I'll be out in a moment and you know it. Just give me a kiss so you can freshen up and get going." Anyone could see he was more excited about his Mommy getting out for a while than even Sookie was. Well, she was excited but nervous about leaving Hunter at the same time. She did as he said though, kissed him goodnight and headed to the bathroom for a moment.

When she came out she was a bit panicked. "I almost forgot!"

"What Sookie?" Maxine asked, since Hunter was already asleep.

She was nervous and looked at Eric while she bit her lip. He thought perhaps she was going to cancel their outing. "I'm sorry to ask, but can I give the nurse's desk your cell number?"

"That's not a problem but don't they have yours?"

"I don't have a cell phone. Hoyt is my emergency contact and he always knows my schedule so he can reach me."

Eric was flabbergasted, but when he thought about it, it made sense. Of course a cell phone would be a luxury she couldn't afford. Given her reaction about the guitar, he guessed she wouldn't like the phone with a voice and data plan he would be sending her in the morning, but that was tough. This was a matter of necessity. Instead of commenting, he just put his hand out and said they'd leave his number with the nurses on the way out.

They walked out hand in hand and headed towards Eric's car. When he led her to a sedan, she was surprised. "Where's the Vette?" His initial response was to raise an eyebrow, so she added. "You're pictured with your Corvette in the magazine article. The one with the vanity plate?"

"I thought you might be more comfortable in the sedan."

She slid into the passenger seat when he opened the door for her. "Yes, well who wouldn't be comfortable in a Mercedes? Jesus Eric, the seat might put me to sleep before we get out of the parking lot."

He informed her when he slid into the driver's seat, "If sleep is what you need, then I'm OK with that. We aren't going anywhere that can't wait." For added measure, he turned on the seat heater and back massager for her.

She could see that he meant those words. "That's sweet, but I want to see what you've got up your sleeve. I doubt it's something simple or you wouldn't have delivered Maxine in a limo. Honestly though, if you're trying to woo me, the seat heater and massager is a good start."

The seat had warmed up and she moaned from the feeling. He just grinned at her reaction and thought to himself. '_Some day, I'll be doing the massaging my Sookie and those moans will be from a different type of pleasure._' "I'm glad you like my wooing. I'll strive to up my game."

He selected a playlist from his iPod and they drove in comfortable silence for a few minutes until Eric asked about something he'd seen in the room earlier. "I noticed you purchased a movie today. I guess I missed a favorite?"

"You never would have guessed it – so don't beat yourself up. It's Tangled."

"I saw that, but it looked like a princess movie. After his comments about Princess Monopoly I stayed away from anything that looked girly."

"And normally you would be right. Marjorie made him watch that once and he loves it. He identifies with Rapunzel. She's trapped in a tower; he's trapped in a dying body."

He pushed down the sadness he felt over her comments and responded to the movie part only. "You're right, I never would have guessed it."

"He's likely going to pick that one to watch one night with us. He rarely goes two days without it." She immediately regretted the comment. "I didn't mean that you have to keep coming, I mean, just in case you do and . . ."

He reached over and grabbed her hand. "You couldn't keep me away now." He got the blush he expected when he also lifted her hand to his mouth and placed a kiss there. In addition to the blush, the comments also caused a tear to spill over. "Have I upset you?"

"No. I don't know how to react to your comment. I'm . . . I mean . . . just thank you. I already really enjoy your company. I just don't know what I can offer."

"So we just take it a day at a time." She nodded and they just returned to holding hands as he drove. An act, he suddenly realized, that wouldn't be that easy in the manual transmission Vette. They rode only another 5 minutes before he announced they'd arrived at their destination.

Sookie was quite puzzled. "A storage facility. Wow, you really know how to woo a girl – this is upping your game?"

"Oh, I think you'll like this."

"What do you have in here?"

"Patience Sookie, patience." She nodded as he steered towards the larger units in the back; then parked. He was around her side to help her out before her belt buckle was undone.

"LORD, that seat was so warm, it's made me extra cold out here."

"Well, I'm not warm myself, but you're welcome to my jacket."

"I'm too chilled to argue and my guess is that the storage unit isn't heated."

He spoke as he helped her into his jacket. "The units are kept at about 55 degrees, so only slightly warmer than it is out here tonight." When she turned, he immediately loved seeing her in his jacket, so he told her. "Is it too forward to tell you I think you look good in my jacket?"

"Now you're doing better on that wooing thing. I knew you had it in you."

"Only for you Sookie."

"Wow, even better." They made it to the door and he used his key to unlock it, but he didn't open the door. "Are you building the suspense?"

He was taken aback from her comment, he wasn't building suspense, he was unsure how she would take the fact that he bought everything she owned, especially if she fussed over a $200 guitar. "I am worried you'll be mad at me when you see what's in here."

She cocked her head to the side. "Are there dead bodies in there?"

Since she had laughed when she asked, he answered her with a joking tone. "No, silly. I dispose of the bodies at my gator farm."

"I'm not going to respond to that comment. What could possibly make me mad?"

"Something I bought for you?" It was a question, not a statement since he was wondering what her reaction would be.

"OK, well I could see why you would be scared. I'm not too good at accepting gifts and if you needed this big of a storage unit, it's probably a doozy."

He thought of something that might help. "The quilt."

"I beg your pardon?"

"The quilt. You accepted the quilt from the nurses."

"I did but how did you know about that?"

"You'll have that answer in a moment. Just remember, you accepted their gift."

She grunted. "Humph, I don't think I've ever been this curious about something, ever. Open the damn door."

He blew out a breath he hadn't needed to take and did just as she asked and opened the damn door then led her into the unit. Her eyes went wide taking in the contents and suddenly the realization hit her: He'd bought everything from the farmhouse; he was behind the 'lucky 7' bidders. EVERYTHING. She reacted in typical Sookie fashion and burst into tears. Luckily Eric was prepared and pulled a hanky from his pocket and he enveloped her in his arms.

Her first question when she could finally speak was "Why? You hadn't even met us when the auction was held."

"I was hoping I would like you enough that I did it for you in advance of our in person meeting."

"And now?"

"I'd do it again."

"We can't possibly be that deserving of your attention."

"You couldn't be more wrong Sookie. I'm the one undeserving of you." She cleaned her face with his hanky and looked up at him. He moved his hands from her back to hold her face, and used his thumbs to wipe the few tears that still spilled. "Even knowing I don't deserve you, I'm still going to come see you. Like I said, you can't keep me away now. You, Sookie Stackhouse, are getting under my skin."

"We're a package deal Eric."

"I know. I wouldn't want it any other way."

"You're sweet."

"Far from it, but for you I will show this side. Actually, this side hasn't existed for years. You bring it out."

His comment caused a few more tears as she hugged into him again. "I still can't believe your PI never found out about my crying and the messes it can cause. We'll have to forgive him though since he paid ten grand for cupcakes." She giggled at the thought. "I want to meet him."

"I can arrange that."

"Do you want to look at your stuff?"

"No, not tonight, I'm a bit overwhelmed."

"I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault. I do want to come back here, I just need some time. I'd already said goodbye to all of it, you know."

"Then it's a reunion whenever you want. I'll give you the key."

"When does it need to be out of here?"

"No time limit."

"Ok." She leaned back into the comfort of his arms and they stayed that way while she just scanned her eyes over the room. After a few minutes, she pulled back and said, "Can we just drive for a bit, it's not even 10; do you have time?"

"Sure. I don't need to be at Fangtasia until 12:30 or so. My first meeting isn't until 1AM."

"I can't be out that late, I'll fall over tomorrow. Let's just go for a short drive."

He drove for about twenty minutes and after unlocking a gate, he continued up a private road to a lake's edge. "I thought you'd enjoy the view, it's a full moon."

"As long as we don't run into any special . . . ah wolves tonight."

"Not on my property."

"This is yours?"

"Yes, I have a house on the far side, this is the back edge."

"It's beautiful."

He helped her from the car and they walked closer to the water to stand side by side. One arm was behind her neck, and the other crossed it as he pulled her close to him. She put her arms in the same arrangement, only lower – around his waist. Wrapped together like that, they were silent for a few minutes watching the moonlit ripples on the water before Eric spoke. "I honestly thought we'd be at the warehouse for a while, so I can't even offer you a blanket, but would you like to sit?"

"I'd love to, the grass is thick and here but it'll be cold, so I probably won't last long."

She was cold already he could tell, so he cursed that he had no body heat to offer her. If anything, like a reptile, he actually absorbed the heat from her. Since she agreed though, he sat first; then guided her between his outstretched legs with her back pressed to his chest. He liked this. He served as a support, and he enjoyed wrapping his arms around her. To his delight, she covered his clasped hands with hers. Since his sense of smell was very acute, he purposely never smelled while in the hospital with her. Now that she'd been out for a while, he leaned in to her neck and breathed in. Heavenly, he'd never encountered a human that smelled this good. He would have to sneak sniffs from her neck whenever he could. He was taking deep breaths from her neck for a while when she spoke and broke him from his aromatherapy.

"Will you tell me a story from your life?"

"Of course, what would you like to hear?"

"My Gran was a Civil War buff, where were you then?"

"Pam and I were staying in Sweden, pretty much laying low. The years before your war were difficult for me because I lost my maker."

"Oh, I guess you were close to your maker?" The words were like a statement, but she presented it as a question.

He sighed, an unnecessary act for a vampire. He wasn't sure it was a conversation he wanted to have so soon with her. She felt his hesitation and retracted. "I'm sorry. You said maker questions were rude."

"No, no. I also told you that you could ask and I opened the door. It's a difficult relationship and a difficult ending. I'm unsure how to describe it without shocking you or giving you a glimpse of the un-sweet side of me."

"Then don't answer. Just tell me about Sweden."

Eric thought for a moment. He knew a huge amount of information about this woman in his arms, and she knew little of him in comparison. He WAS the one that opened the door – maybe he did that unconsciously to give himself the opening. He dove in. "My maker, Appius, was cruel and abusive. He let me go on my own after almost 300 years but that didn't remove the control he had over me; makers can forever control their vampire children. Pam and I caught up with him in 1855 in France. He'd met my first child, Karin around 1500 and accepted her. Karin was a fierce fighter. I watched her on the battlefield as a human and was impressed – I hadn't even realized she was a woman, something she was hiding from her fellow warriors. When she fell and would have died, I changed her. Appius respected my reasons for turning her and her strength. That was not so with Pam. Pam was more like a true child to me. I changed her to save her from an arranged marriage that she didn't want or deserve. In her early years, I pampered and spoiled her. I did teach her to fight and she's become fierce like her sister, but that was after she was introduced to Appius. When he met her, he felt she was unworthy of being a vampire and while I tried discussing her merits and my desire to keep her, I realized he was going to order me to kill her.

Sookie gasped. "That's horrible. What right did he have?"

"As my maker, he had every right but I was done being his puppet. I'd spent 300 years living under his sadistic rule. I snapped. I can't fully explain it either. Normally, a child should never be able to kill their maker and I personally couldn't do it, but I had to try something. It was close to dawn and my Were guards had arrived at the house. I purposely started an argument with him so the guards would hear. Essentially, he wanted me to wait for Pam to rise the next night; then kill her slowly while he watched. I wasn't sure if my guards would help me – but they did. After hearing my screams to Appius wishing I could kill him and literally begging him for Pam's life, they knew I wanted Pam saved." He kept to himself that the Weres also heard other things between Appius and himself that night and other nights – things he didn't want to speak of ever again. Since they'd heard what a cruel and sadistic vampire Appius was and that Eric wasn't a willing participant – they got the hint. "They killed Appius' own Were guard, removed Pam and me from the building, hid us elsewhere, staked Appius and then set the house on fire. They were rewarded handsomely for their loyalty. Several Were in my current employ are descendents of that original family." While they were talking, he'd created a lap for her and turned her sideways so they could see each other better. "I'm glad I was able to save my child but even as much as I hated Appius I struggled with the realization that I technically killed him. The maker child bond isn't something I can adequately describe."

"What a difficult position he put you in." He nodded. "I'm glad you decided to save Pam."

"Well, she's frustrating me greatly lately, but yes I would do it again." She leaned sideways resting her head against his chest. "Thank you for listening. You know, only Pam knows what happened."

"I won't tell anyone."

"I appreciate that but that's not what I meant. I just found it easy to tell you. I can't explain it."

"I know, I feel very comfortable with you and I can't explain it either." He pulled her closer with his arms tightly wound around her. Within a few minutes, she started shivering so he moved to stand lifting her as he did.

"I'm sorry you're so cold. I'll keep something in the car in case we ever get the chance to do this again." In his head he vowed to fatten her up – she was just skin and bones, no wonder she was so cold.

"I asked for the drive, it's not your fault but I'll give you one of Gran's quilts for your car just in case."

"I can't believe we didn't think about that while we were at the warehouse. You were already cold then." He rubbed her shoulders hoping it would help somewhat. "I guess I should take you back."

"Yeah, I guess."

"I don't want to." He really didn't, but he eased her into the car anyway. He was so mad at the weather and his lack of forethought to provide her something to keep her warm.

With the heat blowing from the vents and permeating the seats, Sookie warmed quickly so she suggested that he take the long way back to the hospital. He agreed, of course.

"Sookie, can I ask you about your brother?"

"What would you like to know about the manwhore of Bon Temps?"

"Why does he hate you so much?"

"It started when my parents died." She shook her head. "No, actually it was earlier than that. He clearly hated that I was born. He blamed me for their death saying that having a second child, me, put the stress on the marriage that had them driving to a marriage counselor that night." She left out the problems between her and her mother over her telepathy. That information would come later. "Pretty much my whole childhood he tormented me. Later, he was jealous that I got to go to college, more specifically, that I got to use the scholarship I was offered when he lost his."

"The research I found on him indicated he wasn't that intelligent."

"He had a football scholarship. Having blown out his knee in his senior year of high school caused him to lose the scholarship since he could no longer play."

"That's not your fault though."

"No, but Jason still hated me for it. The irony is then he hated when I took in Hunter, thereby giving up school. It got worse when the debt started piling up and by the time Gran died, he was ready to disown me. In Jason's head – Hunter was the reason that Gran had the heart attack that killed her. She was taking care of him while I worked and he was hard work. I can't say that he's wrong but Gran would have made the same choice again knowing the outcome."

"That's when he got violent." Her eyes grew wide at his statement. "It's still on police records even though you didn't want to prosecute him."

"Yes, that's when he got violent. He was pissed that Gran left me the farmhouse, though he got my parent's house – he seemed to forget that part. Later, when he found out about the deal with Furnan, he came after me again. Sam, my boss at Merlotte's wanted to kill him – as did many others. I begged them to stand down. I needed to keep the incidents quiet since I having an unstable brother would hurt my chances of adopting Hunter."

"He's a loose cannon Sookie."

"Eric, I know, but I still can't have that as part of my background for now so I'm leaving it be." He started to protest but she stopped him. "I know it doesn't make sense to you but this is how I want to handle the situation." Eric's jaw was tense as they spoke and she could tell he wanted to pursue this issue more but she really didn't want anything to hurt her chances, he just had to understand.

He kept his mouth shut since he knew Jason was already in jail and not a current threat. He'd make sure to track him though, just to be sure.

They returned to the hospital and stopped at the limo in the back of the parking lot to tell the driver Maxine would be out in a moment. The driver acknowledged and said he'd been moving the car to the front doors. They walked into the room, still holding hands, and Sookie gently woke Maxine. Since she'd fallen into a deep sleep, she was confused for a moment but remembered where she was. "Did you have a nice evening?"

"Yes. I'll tell you all about it on Wednesday."

"Ok little girl."

"I'll walk you out Maxine." Eric offered.

"Good looks and such a gentleman Sookie. He's a keeper. That other one only ever growled at me."

"That's because you only ever scowled at him."

"He deserved it. I'll just be right in the hall while you say goodnight. Hunter is completely asleep I'm sure." And with a wink she was out the door.

"She's subtle." Sookie rolled her eyes.

"No, she's an excellent ally."

"What do you mean?"

"She was ensuring that I knew it was OK to do this." And with those words he bent down for a very chaste goodnight kiss. He only stayed attached to her for a moment, not wanting to outlast the time he figured Maxine had allotted them, but they both felt what seemed like an electric current from their connection. Sookie wondered what a deep kiss with tongue would feel like she enjoyed it so much. When they broke apart, Sookie started to remove his coat and hand it to him. He pushed back. "Keep it; it looks too good on you."

"Thank you Eric. Oh and thank you for visiting us, all my stuff and mostly for trusting me with your story."

"You're welcome. I'll see you tomorrow shortly after the sun sets my Sookie."

"I'm already looking forward to it."

He started backing away towards the door, still touching whatever part of her he could reach. "Me too." With one final squeeze of their fingers, they parted.

Before he moved back for another kiss like he wanted, he turned to quickly walk out the door. Waiting as she promised, Maxine was in the hallway. She'd actually taken a seat so he helped her up; then put his elbow out for her. "Charmer." He laughed while they walked down the hall.

"I have to get in good with you I'm certain."

"You've got that right. Ma boy and I, we're Sookie's family."

"I know. I know about Jason."

"Do you know he's in jail for beatin' some poor man?"

"I do, that man worked for me."

"Oh Lordy! Is he OK?"

"Yes, I brought in my own doctor; he's going to be fine."

She was quiet for a moment. "That ain't a coincidence, is it?"

"No, but since Sookie said she would tell you about our evening when she sees you on Wednesday, I'll leave you with no details. To tell you the connection would give away her story and I think she'll want to tell you where I took her tonight."

"I'll wait then."

"Thank you." They were quiet until they stepped into the elevator and he asked her, "Can you give me any clues? Favorite treats? Flowers? Foods?"

She smiled that Eric wanted ideas for wooing Sookie and she of course answered to help him. "Lindt chocolate, I don't know her favorite flower, food? A tie between fried chicken and chocolate covered strawberries."

He smiled at his ally. "Thank you Maxine."

They'd reached the limo and the driver opened the door. She turned to him before getting in. "I know you could kill me faster than green grass going through a goose so I cain't threaten you. Instead, I'm begging you, don't hurt her and you have to remember they're together – you can't want just her." He wanted to laugh about the grass and the goose, but she was serious.

He helped her into her seat and offered, "I couldn't hurt her. I'm already smitten Maxine – with both of them." Truth was, he was practically smitten before he walked through the door and saw her.

She grinned. "Smitten is good."


	8. Brotherly Love

**Hi all! REMINDER - Last chapter on Fanfiction go to wordpress for the rest of Make a Wish**

**Snow Snow Snow - we had 18 or so inches - we have a tunnel on the deck that leads out to the back yard. I work from home, so I just sat in my home office - poor hubby and the kids had to clean up two straight days in a road.**

**Thanks for all the reviews and favorites and followers - love it!**

**Also - I don't own this stuff- just playing with SVM Characters.**

Chapter 8 – Brotherly love

Tissue warning - LOW

Frying Pan - start swinging

The next morning, Bobby arrived at court in Shreveport to meet with the Bon Temps historical society. They had their own local lawyer, Sid Matt Lancaster, to represent their interests so Cataliades was not needed. Together they were going to request an injunction to stop Furnan Developers from knocking down the farmhouse. They were only in their meeting for 15 minutes when Sid Matt received a call from the Bon Temps Sheriff, Bud Dearborn. After he hung up, he announced. "Ladies, Mr. Burnham, I regret to inform you that our time here is a moot point. Furnan had the house knocked down at 5AM this morning. He was ready with the equipment onsite yesterday while he was applying for permission."

Olga Heddy, a member of the historical society, shook her head. "Who's going to tell Sookie? That poor girl."

Sid Matt offered. "I'll stop by and tell Maxine today. It'll be best coming from her."

They all agreed and left Shreveport.

OOOoooOOOooo

Hunter didn't have dialysis, so he and Sookie planned to rest after his breakfast; then go to the playroom after lunch. Marjorie was feeling better and Hunter wanted to spend time with her since she had chemo again the next day. While Hunter and Sookie were watching a movie after his breakfast, a delivery arrived from the local Verizon store via Bobby. Sookie tried to read Bobby again, but her boobs were apparently too much of a distraction and besides, Bobby was out of the room quickly. She was a bit unhappy at this delivery because she suspected the box was a phone since her lack of cell phone was mentioned last night. She turned to Hunter who had heard her reservations. "I'll need to keep my mouth shut or he'll just keep sending us stuff."

"He wants to Mommy." Hunter was quiet then exclaimed after hearing her thoughts. "He's not doing that Mommy! He's not trying to buy your affections."

"Hunter Stackhouse, you stay out of my head." She whisper-yelled back at him.

"Don't you believe me?"

"I do, but what will others think?"

"Don't you tell me not to focus on what others think?"

She narrowed her eyes to him. "Too smart for your own good."

He nodded to the box. "You opening that? It probably needs to charge."

After calling him a nudge (causing a giggle), she did open the box to find an iPhone, accessories and a note. It was handwritten again and since he left here AFTER the Verizon store was closed, she couldn't figure that part out. Her curiosity would need to wait until she could ask Eric, after she yelled about the phone of course.

_My Sookie:_

_A cell phone is a necessity for you, so this is NOT a gift that you can refuse. The voice and data plan has been pre-paid through next year so you have no worries about that. I preloaded it with my phone number (as the first on your list of course), Mustapha Kahn my PI and Bobby Burnham, my dayman. If you run into trouble during the day, you can call either of these men for help. They've both been alerted that you have their numbers. Since you're in the know, I'll tell you that Mustapha is a Were._

_I also added a collection of music and an app that contains the guitar chords for hundreds of songs. You may find some other surprises as you play with the phone as well._

_I'm not taking it back so you can just plan to yell at me tonight when I come for my visit. _

_Yours, _

_Eric_

_PS: To set things up, I had to create your passcodes: Your code for the phone is 1028 and your iTunes passcode is: _minangel_1. You'll need that to download apps and make iTunes purchases. _

Sookie read the note twice then thought to herself,_ 'He is so sweet, but I'm still yelling at him tonight. What will everyone think?'_

"MOMMY!"

She faked a scowl and told him, "Stay out mister." For good measure, she waggled a finger at him too.

The day went quickly with Grady, Johnny and Hunter re-telling Eric's stories to Marjorie then a few games of Buckaroo. They loved when the pieces went flying and the adults in the room needed to scramble and collect them all. When the nurses came in and announced dinner requiring that the kids return to their rooms, they were met with pouty faces and begging. They'd been having so much fun they wanted to eat together. Normally, the nurses followed policy and returned the kids to their rooms, but they couldn't deny the request. Both Jackie and Nancy were working and they knew the prognosis for Marjorie was not good; she'd been given less than a month to live and a hospice group was being brought in later this week to discuss options with the family. Sharing a knowing look, they started setting up the room for dinner and the trays were brought in. Hunter and Sookie were curious about the nurses' actions so they had a listen to their thoughts and Hunter struggled with the information, but they tried to act 'normal'. Hunter was eating a meal Sookie had prepared at Gramma Fortenberry's so she was replacing the hospital dinner with her own.

When Eric arrived on the floor, he could see Hunter's room was empty and he followed the voices to the playroom where dinner was well under way. He smiled from the doorway, a Caramel Java Chiller in one hand and a box of freshly dipped chocolate strawberries in the other.

Her plan to yell at him went out the window when she saw his face. None of the adults in the room missed the look they gave each other; it appeared that for Sookie and Eric, the rest of the room no longer existed. He handed Sookie her treats, kissed her on the cheek and moved a chair to sit on Hunter's other side. He wanted to pull her into his lap but he was also here for Hunter so he refrained, for now. "What's for dinner tonight Hunter?"

"Mommy's shepherd pie. She cooked it yesterday at Gramma Fortenberry's."

"You are lucky your Mommy can cook. Hmm . . . I guess anyone can cook, it's that you like it that makes you lucky."

"My Mommy is the best!"

"Of course she is." He agreed with the boy and they smiled at each other. Sookie melted at the bond they already seemed to be forming.

"Did your Mommy cook?

"She did, when I was human the duties between men and women were very much defined regarding meals: the women cooked and men hunted and slaughtered the animals. If I was gone a Viking for a while, I would cook meat over a fire, but that was it for me. My mother could put a meal on the table and we ate it but she was not very creative with how she prepared the food. It was boiled meat with vegetables and bland. My wife, when she was alive, was much better at preparing something with actual taste."

Having realized that Eric was a vampire given his appearance and the way he spoke about another era, Marjorie's mother spoke up. "Fascinating. Are vampires being approached by historians and archeologists for interviews? The real life experience?"

"I've been disappointed in the lack of interest. I contacted LSU for example, as did others in this area and they never responded."

"I teach High School history; I want to spend time with you, well I'm on leave now – but when I'm back." The adults in the room chuckled at her enthusiasm.

"I'm sorry, we didn't meet last night; I'm Eric Northman." He put out his hand.

"Sandra Kilpatrick and this is my husband Tom. We're Marjorie's parents."

"Well, I'm sure Hunter is happy to see Marjorie tonight, he missed her yesterday. If you're serious about learning history from those who lived it, let me know. " He pulled out his wallet. "Here's my card."

Sookie swooned at his ease with the other parents. Alcide never took the time to meet any of the other families while they were together. Granted, they were both dealing with sick family members, but while she'd met all of his family and his mother's medical team; he never made a similar effort. While she and Eric joked about his wooing last night with his romantic gestures, this was the true wooing - infusing himself into her life. It also scared her. They met THREE days ago and she was feeling drawn to him and she knew Hunter already idolized him. She had responsibilities and couldn't afford to be swept into a romance that consumed her or one that could hurt her son. At the moment though, her baby had just finished his supper and it was truly time to get the kids back to the room. Grady and Hunter were barely able to keep their eyes open from the extended time in the playroom.

Tonight, Hunter wanted to try walking to the bathroom once they had him wheeled into the room. "I thought Hunter was bedridden? I also thought his kidneys didn't work?"

"His energy level is the problem. We still try to get him up once or twice a day. It's good for him to move around since staying in one spot all day can be bad for the skin. And you're right, his kidneys' don't work but he has . . . other needs."

"Got it. So does he need help?" Eric asked as Sookie went to the corner for something. His face fell as he saw she was pulling out something with handles and wheels. He hadn't expected the boy to need a device. "What's that?"

"It's a walker. He needs this to keep steady since I need to wheel his stuff behind him - he's hooked up all the time."

"So I'll steady him while you push instead."

"Ok, that'll work." They got him out of the wheelchair and Eric was happy to see him able to stand and walk, even if he was a bit wobbly. They had him back in bed quickly and now Eric understood why he only got out of bed occasionally; he was exhausted. Hunter wanted to stay awake to visit but Eric saved him from that decision. "I need to go. Remember, I have to be at Fangtasia early tonight. I'm already running late."

"Tomorrow?"

He laughed since Hunter's face was so hopeful looking. "I'll be here tomorrow since I can't come by at all on the rest of this week. On Thursday I have prep work to do for my trip out of town and Friday and Saturday are the busiest nights at the bar. I've already left the rest of the staff a few times on those nights recently. I think my own child will stake me if I miss this weekend."

Sookie gasped. "Well, we can't have that. We're just getting to know you."

"I'm exaggerating . . . a bit."

"I can't believe you're leaving already, I didn't get to yell about the phone."

"Can you walk with me to the lobby? Maybe we can get an empty elevator. You can yell at me then." He was hoping she'd say yes so they could have just a few more minutes together.

Hunter could clearly hear that Mommy would like a moment with Eric before he left so he encouraged her. "Go on Mommy. It's only a few minutes. I'll probably be asleep by the time you get back." Using her thoughts she reminded him to stay out of her head, but she nodded at his encouragement.

Once in the hall, they clasped hands and headed towards the elevator. "Sookie, please don't use the few minutes we have tonight to discuss the phone. We both know you need it. I really want you to enjoy the security it can provide and the fun with the apps and music. Please?"

"Since you're spending more time with us tomorrow I'll yell at you then. For now, I'll just thank you."

They stepped into the elevator and it was empty – at least for a moment. "Do I get a kiss as thanks?"

"You never miss an opportunity."

He waggled his eyebrows as the doors closed. "Hurry, we only have three floors."

She was laughing at his boyish expression and behavior when she moved into his embrace. The same electric current from the night before tingled on both their lips as they gave each other a quick kiss. Eric pulled away and put his forehead to hers. "Gods, I can't believe I won't see you again until tomorrow evening."

"Employees need to be paid Eric."

"I know. I'll think of you while toiling away." They got off the elevator and she was still walking with him. "Why is Hunter hooked up to so much, what's the point?"

"They track stuff like his oxygen saturation level and how his heart is working in general. The heart is the big problem since I can give him a kidney – we're a tissue match. Anyway – that's why they monitor his heart so much."

"And the donor situation? It's just a waiting game?"

"He's low on the list. They haven't determined what caused the kidney failure – they know something blocked the proper blood flow, but not what. They won't risk a donor kidney without knowing the cause."

"Are they still trying to find the cause?"

"On the Parish's dime? Not really. I mean, they run tests and the doctors here have consulted on him, but nothing aggressive has been done." They were at the door now so Sookie changed the subject to say goodnight. "Well, we're at the door and you have to work."

"I know." He nodded towards her pocket, where the phone was. "You can send me texts from that phone. Maybe we can chat later after I get the numbers done and before you head to bed."

"I'd like that. Call me if it's before 10:30."

Eric left her knowing her day tomorrow was going to be hard. He'd actually called Maxine when he rose to discuss that the farmhouse had already been destroyed. They spoke about how to tell Sookie and decided that Maxine would be the best person to tell her while she was away from the hospital. Hunter hated to see Sookie upset, and this information was likely going to cause a significant reaction. Maxine had told Eric that Sookie counted on Furnan's plans to keep the structure so her historic family home would be preserved, even if she was not living in it.

Luckily he was able to spend the entire evening tomorrow and he'd arranged for Maxine to stay with Hunter in case Sookie needed space. The woman had even suggested it to him when they spoke. She really was an ally to him and a good friend and surrogate mother to Sookie. He'd ask Bobby for some gift suggestions as a thank you.

On the drive to Fangtasia he took the opportunity to call Genny Burke from Make a Wish. "Genny, it's Eric Northman."

"Eric. How are things in Shreveport?"

"Wonderful Genny."

"Wonderful? Well do tell."

"I've met with them three nights this week. We don't have our official date planned yet mostly since I have to travel next week but I wanted to keep you informed."

She could hear happiness in his voice and smiled in reply from her house. "I appreciate that. Call me with an update, please?"

"Of course." He was quiet just for a second. "Genny. Thank you for making the effort to get me that letter."

"You're welcome Eric. Have a good night. I look forward to an update."

"You enjoy your evening too." The smile remained on his face until he walked into his office and was accosted by Pam.

"Where have you been? You hardly show up for work these days. You arrived last night only just in time for the scheduled meetings. I can tell you've been to a hospital again and tonight you smell like chocolate too."

He seethed, he was already angry that he had to come in to do the payroll that was Pam's responsibility. Since she hadn't done it for the past 3 months, he had no faith that she would pick it up tonight to get it done. Now, with her reaction, he decided to push. Through clenched teeth, he responded. "Who do you think you are, asking me where I've been?"

"I'm a partner in this business."

He moved to loom over her. "Then act like it. Do the fucking payroll Pam!"

She backed away, truly afraid of her maker, something that had happened only two times before in her undead life, and both when she was still very young. He'd never actually hit her but the fear was real. On top of that, Eric rarely cursed out loud so she knew he was upset. "Calm down Eric. I'm worried for us. Can't you see that?"

"No I cannot. I see a girl I have spoiled for far too long. I have let you get away with shirking your responsibilities. I have supported you financially when I should have turned you out to make your own way. Even when you went to Minnesota to 'spread your wings' I funded everything you did. I would be happy to keep doing so if you would only step up and handle your responsibilities. You have become a disappointment to me Pam."

That hurt! In shock, she backed away even further from her maker unsure of what to do next. Long moments passed before either of them said anything. Finally, he turned away, "Leave my office. I have work; I mean YOUR work to do." From the corner of his eye, he could see her skulking out.

As he planned, he grabbed the timecards and started work on the paysheets he needed to create. It really was ridiculous that he had to sit here and do this work. Unfortunately, it needed to be done; Ginger never got it right and Pam no longer took her work seriously. He was keeping that one month promise to himself, to see if she'd step up to the plate but the probability looked low. The task was complete well before the 9PM deadline (that's when his other company, Viking Industries, pulled the paysheet data to include it in their own payruns. This way he didn't need a separate pay system for Fangtasia). He headed out to sit on his throne for a while, but couldn't keep his mind off Sookie. He sent her a text to see what she was doing.

E: You there?

Several moments went by before he got:

S: HI! I couldn't get my phone code in quickly enough

E: You'll get used to it. I'm bored

S: Poor baby, bored at a bar. I would be bored except I've been busy setting up playlists

S: What's minangel and 1028 anyway?

E: It's really min ängel or my angel in Swedish because that's what you are. 1028 is the date Genny gave me Hunter's letter

That answer stopped her breath for a moment before she responded.

S: There's that wooer again

He chuckled on his throne then caught himself and scowled at the crowd

E: Did you try the guitar chords app?

S: No. Hunter was asleep when I got back and I really have been building playlists. You loaded a ton of music on this.

E: I wanted you to have options.

S: Well thank you

Eric noticed Pam headed his way and he didn't want her to see what he was up to.

E: I have to run, I'll call you later?

S: Sure

Pam had been watching Eric up on stage. He was changing and she was honestly worried. He was neglecting his duties at the bar; his presence was required for business. Sure, he was keeping up with his sheriff duties and the back business for the bar but he needed to be on display; he needed to pay attention to fangbangers. Over the past few months, he'd been taking less and less interest in the women that were throwing themselves at him. Easy fucks for God's sake. What was his problem? Now he was even worse. The past few days? He was up to something and he was keeping it a secret. His focus had strayed and she needed it to end, NOW. Whatever or she suspected WHOever was distracting him was also feeding him these ideas about her being a spoiled disappointment. She needed to find out what was going on and fast. After a few minutes a thought occurred to her: Bobby! Bobby would hopefully know what he was up to. She just needed to question him – even use glamour if necessary. For now she would play nice; act like the perfect child – well not all the paperwork shit he wanted done, but in other ways. As she headed across the bar she saw him laugh while he was looking at his phone. Her master – LAUGHED – in public! Perhaps he was getting some kind of vampire insanity. He looked up and saw her approaching and it didn't escape her that he finished some text conversation and quickly put his phone in his pocket before she got there.

"Eric."

"Yes Pam?" She moved to squat next to his chair so she could look in his face. Since she and Eric shared a child maker bond where they could feel each other's emotions, she focused on her worry about him hoping that he would believe it was worry about their relationship that he was feeling.

"I'm sorry.

"Are you?"

"I want to talk about your disappointment in me. Can we do that?"

This made Eric hopeful. Maybe his words, were finally getting through; then again, maybe this was all acting. He could feel worry coming from her but nothing else – that wasn't too helpful. Deciding to give her the benefit of the doubt, he agreed. "We'll talk after closing on Friday. I'll be out tomorrow night and I'm a little too upset at you to talk tonight." She nodded and rose, but before she walked away he asked, "Who did you leave at the door?"

Thankfully she'd thought that one through and had Thalia, an ancient vampire in Eric's retinue, take over for her to check ID's. The fangbangers loved Thalia. She was horrible and mean and the more she scowled and showed her fangs, the more they loved it. "Thalia."

"A good start Pamela. Since I won't be here at all tomorrow, why don't you take the rest of the night off?"

"Thank you Eric." This was good timing, she'd go see Bobby tonight.

Eric stayed on the throne for another hour before he'd had enough. His office and working on Viking Industries was a welcome respite from the sycophants scrambling for a bit of his attention. He called Sookie at about 10:00 but he could hear that she was exhausted so they only spoke for a few minutes. One thing he did discuss with her was the fact that they hadn't planned their actual 'Make a Wish' date. She agreed to work out an evening with Hoyt and Jessica to stay with Hunter and they would select what to do when they saw each other the next night. He did mention the upcoming vampire summit in New York for the following week so they agreed to wait until a few days after he was back from the summit since he would need to spend time at the bar the weekend he returned.

By the time he'd gotten home, he was calmer over the situation with Pam. He went to bed hoping her desire to talk was genuine.

In her own home, Pam went to bed with a name and a location: Sookie Stackhouse Room 345 at the Parish hospital. As soon as she had a night off while Eric was at the bar, Sookie would be getting a visit. Whoever she was, she was ruining her life.

OOOoooOOOooo

Bobby woke the next morning to pounding at his door. He staggered into the living room and opened the door a crack to see who was knocking. There were two uniformed police officers. "Officer Kevin Pryor and this is my partner Officer Kenya Jones. We're here from the Bon Temps Sheriff's office. I have Officer Kadyke from Shreveport as you live in his jurisdiction. We need to speak with you Mr. Burnham."

"You can contact my lawyer. I'll get you his card."

"Sir, we have a summons for you to appear in court this morning. We're here to escort you."

"May I see this summons?" One of the officers handed it through the door. A quick glance told him it was related to Stackhouse; a hearing was called by his attorney saying that Bobby's claims and injuries were lies. She was moving for a dismissal of all charges. This was not good. Bobby was healed and if the right folks were not present in court, specifically the officer who documented his injuries, Jason could get off. He'd go right for Sookie then, Bobby was sure. He needed to stall and make some calls. "I'm not dressed. Give me a few minutes."

"We'll need to wait in the house for you sir."

Bobby quickly dressed while trying to reach Eric's lawyer, Desmond Cataliades. He was in New Orleans at the moment but would call an associate to meet Bobby at the courthouse. The associate, Donald Narvon, was versed in vampire issues and Desmond said he would explain the healing and other relevant background to his alternate when he called him. In short, Bobby was to follow his guidance. Next he left a message for Eric regarding the potential threat to Sookie, but of course he was dead for the day. He was about to call a Were to stay at the hospital but a knock on his bedroom door telling him they needed to leave NOW stopped him. Per the officers at his door, if he didn't make court on time, he would be held in contempt.

A short drive later, they were at the Bon Temps 'court house' which was actually a rented office space in town. The small room frequently sat unused actually, and a judge that traveled through several of the small towns in the area was brought in for the day. He did not look happy. Bobby saw Jason and his lawyer look his way and they exchanged a knowing glance. There was only one man in the 'audience' area and he signaled to Bobby to sit; he gathered this was Donald. As they were a moment late, court was already in session but the officers explained that they had woken Bobby and the judge seemed to accept the excuse, he then instructed Portia to make her opening statement.

"Your Honor, thank you for allowing this expedited hearing. As you can see, Robert Burnham, the alleged victim, is here in court with no obvious injuries. While we have documentation from the Shreveport police officer of injuries, she could not be found this morning to participate and confirm these pictures are valid. The Bon Temps police took a witness statement from a nurse at the hospital who saw Bobby make his statements then again a day later when she was shocked to see he was without injury. I would suggest that seeing is believing your honor and I move for an immediate dismissal of all charges."

"While I'm inclined to agree with you, I do need to hear from the DA's office and Mr. Burnham himself first." He nodded to the Prosecutor. "Mr. Sheevy, please proceed."

"Your honor, I request a 15 minute recess as I have not had a chance to understand why Mr. Burnham's appearance now and the pictures from after the incident don't match."

"Denied."

The Assistant DA didn't think he would get the time so he moved forward with his plan B. "Then in lieu of an opening statement, I call Bobby Burnham to the stand."

Donald, the attorney for Bobby had been writing notes as quickly as possible to provide some instruction. It didn't appear that things were going to work out. Jason would likely be set free so now the best they could hope for was to keep Bobby from being charged with making false accusations against Jason. No doubt they would resolve the issues once the Shreveport PD got involved, but this Judge could throw Bobby in jail today and from what he knew of Eric Northman, he would not be pleased.

Once the necessary swearing to tell the truth and confirming his identity was done, the prosecutor started with questions.

"Mr. Burnham, can you explain how you appear healed?"

"Yes. I work for a vampire and he arranged for vampire blood to be used. If the court is not aware, vampire blood can heal." Per the note from Donald, he'd been given permission to state this information. It was starting to become publicly known anyway.

The judge sneered and asked his own question. "So you are a V-addict?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"A V addict, you're addicted to vampire blood?" The judge was disgusted; he hated vampires, the whole lot of them. He'd been informed about this man's association with the liaison vampire in the area and wanted to make him pay for that.

"No your Honor. The blood used for the healing was fresh, that's not what V is. Vampire blood becomes the addictive drug V once it's been out of the vampire's body for at least a week. The time changes the properties of the blood."

"You seem to have a great deal of knowledge on this topic."

"I work for Eric Northman, the designated human/vampire liaison for the area. It's my job to know this type of information."

"To me, it appears that you have some vendetta against Mr. Stackhouse and made up injuries so you could charge him."

"I assure you, that's not the case. I was beaten by the accused. Detective Farner can confirm my injuries."

"Yes, but she's not here, is she?" The judge was pleased with this turn of events. When Portia Bellefleur contacted him with this 'opportunity' he moved quickly so he could turn things around on this vampire situation. It was a small victory for humans, but he wanted to get his digs in. He couldn't wait to find out how Eric Northman reacted to the news that his employee was locked up when he rose. "I'm moving forward with the evidence I have. You, Robert Burnham, have no injuries that I can see. Given the documentation from the incident, you should still have bruises and other evidence. I'm dismissing the charges against Jason Stackhouse and instead putting Robert Burnham in the Bon Temps jail for falsely accusing Jason Stackhouse."

Bobby wanted a moment with the attorney so he could at least get someone to guard Sookie, but he was taken out in cuffs and driven to the small Bon Temps jail before he had a chance to know what was happening. His request to meet with his attorney was denied pending the arrival of the Bon Temps Sheriff, Bud Dearborn. When Bobby asked when the Sheriff would be in, he was informed he was out around town with no plans to arrive soon.

OOOoooOOOooo

After being dropped at his house by Portia, Jason's first act was to plan his revenge on Sookie. His need to take his pent up aggression out on his sister had grown with every hour he was in jail. Unless her schedule changed, she would be at Hoyt's house cooking with Maxine today. Maxine wasn't a threat; hell, she'd likely be asleep when he got there. His idiot sister hadn't pressed charges before; she didn't want the police involved while she was trying to adopt the brat that had helped her ruin his life. His plan in place, he drove to Maxine's street and parked out of sight.

A few hours later, he saw Sookie's car pull in. He spent a moment thinking it was actually HIS car – his Gran forced him to give it to her after he bought his truck and maybe he should take it back. That'd cripple her even further. Yeah, that's what he'd tell her today. Choosing the element of surprise, he walked up to the house and listened in. He was shocked at what he heard.

"So where did he take you last night?"

"MAXINE! You won't believe it. He took me to a storage facility."

"Doesn't he know how to date?"

She laughed at Maxine – mostly because she thought the same thing. "I'll explain but I kinda told him his wooing needed work." The women both chuckled. "The warehouse was filled with everything from my house." She was misty thinking about it all over again. "He bought everything. He was behind those bidders that made a clean sweep. Well except for the quilt the nurses bought me."

"LORDY! He is a keeper Sookie. He saved everything?" Sookie nodded. "Whatcha gonna do with it then?"

"I don't know. He's got it stored and he said it can stay like that until I decide."

Maxine was very pleased. This would help Sookie get over the news about the farmhouse. Something she dreaded telling her, but she knew when Eric called her – she was the best person to do it so Sookie could react without worrying about Hunter. "That's just great Sookie. Come sit with me, I have something to discuss with you."

"You have me worried." They were seated on the couch now, unaware that Jason was right outside.

"It's bad news little girl, and I'm sorry."

"Just give it to me."

"The plans Furnan Developers had for the farmhouse changed. He was granted permission to demolish it. Sid Matt went to Shreveport where the judge who made the ruling holds court but they were too late. Sookie, the house is gone. I'm so sorry." She put her arms out and Sookie fell into them immediately, sobbing.

"He p . . . promised me he wouldn't d . . . do that."

"Yes, I remember."

"My Gran is probably furious at me."

"No hon, she isn't. You did what you needed to do. Furnan is the snake here." She helped Sookie wipe her face; then told her. "Eric called me yesterday afternoon. He knows, but we decided to let me tell you so Hunter wouldn't be impacted by your reaction. Though with your mind readin', you can't keep it a secret. I just didn't want to get into that with him."

"Thanks Maxine. I'll tell him soon, but yeah, better it comes from me. I agree, even though Hunter will read it from me, 'cause the little turd listens when he's not supposed to, it's better he doesn't see how upset I was. Good decision Maxine."

"Glad you approved. He was torn with not telling you last night." She pushed Sookie a bit. "Go on and cook and stuff. I've been fretting so much over the news I didn't sleep so I'm going to my room if you don't mind."

"Not at all. I wish you hadn't lost sleep, but it's nice to have someone worry over me."

"My pleasure my dear, and I'm not the only one." She winked at Sookie, causing a small giggle to escape her otherwise burdened expression.

Jason was pissed. Now Sookie had lost their house – in a forever way! He was going to wait til the old bat was asleep then he'd surprise his sister. He gave Maxine 30 minutes before he barged into the living room and spoke to Sookie while she was sorting laundry. "I cain't believe you lost the house you cunt!"

"JASON! What are you doing here?" She whisper yelled so she wouldn't wake Maxine.

"My dear sister," he spoke with a sneer, "I left jail this morning to see you. Now I find that not only have you managed to lose everything in the family home – you lost us the actual home forever too!"

This surprised Sookie. "Jail?"

"Yes Sookie, some guy accused me of beating him." She delved into his mind right away.

"Bobby, you beat Bobby?"

"You know him?"

"He works for my friend."

"This Eric I heard ya talking about with Maxine? So he bought all ma stuff?"

She did not acknowledge his comments and instead tried to get him to leave. "Jason, you're scaring me, you should just leave before I call the police."

"You won't do that Sookie. You can't have an unstable brother while you're trying to adopt your brat."

He was right and that scared her, but she also knew Eric wouldn't tolerate his behavior and she was afraid what he would do to Jason, she hated her brother right now, but didn't want him dead. While she wanted to threaten Jason with Eric – informing him that Eric was a vampire - there was also no way to predict his reaction to that news and he was close to violence as it was. She was already afraid for her and Maxine. "Jason, Eric won't take kindly if you hurt either of us."

"I'm not afraid of him. His lackey was a pussy – practically cried when I barely tapped him. I won't touch your precious Maxine either. She'd report me. You're my focus here."

'_You have no idea what you're doing Jason'_, she thought, but she told him. "If you leave now, we'll just forget you were here today Jason."

"Oh, you ain't ever going to forget this visit. You've also given me enough of a clue that nothing I do will show. Nobody will ever know, will they Sookie?" Her fear grew as he approached her. The last words he spoke were, "Keep your mouth shut bitch," as he started punching her torso. Sookie was done rolling over for Jason. She screamed for Maxine to call 911 and started defending herself and trying to kick him herself. He was much stronger and was able to hurt her anyway – but she couldn't let him go on without at least trying to fight back.

After landing only a few good blows, Hoyt stormed into the room. "Get off of her Jason!"

"This is a family matter Hoyt, get out."

"I brought Bud with me Jason. Momma called, she heard everything from the moment you walked into the room."

He glared at his sister. "You ain't gonna press charges though."

Bud suggested that she press charges for her continued safety. He also made another really good point: If the Parish adoption agent learned of the attacks and that she didn't press charges that could also go badly for her.

On the floor from her brother's beating, she considered Bud's comments. While she was afraid what would happen to her adoption attempts if she did press charges, she was more afraid of Jason now that he was becoming more violent. "I am. Bud, I'm pressing charges."

"Ok Sookie, 'bout time. Let's get you to the doctor; then you can file the paperwork. Jason, I'm calling Kevin to pick you up."

Bud called in for help and Kevin arrived to take care of Jason. Sookie refused medical attention, "It's only a few bruises." She was more worried about hiding it from Eric. He was spending the entire evening with them. She would have to tell Hunter to keep it quiet. Bud took care of the charges from Maxine's living room, and promised that if he needed anything else, he'd see her at the hospital the next day. Hoyt left to get back to work, praising him Momma for calling him when she heard Jason's voice. Maxine explained that by the time Sookie had called out to her, Hoyt was already on his way – but she was damn proud of Sookie for fighting back this time.

Instead of resting from the ordeal, Sookie moved to the kitchen to quickly cook Hunter's meals for the next few days. Maxine was worried. She refused help; she didn't cry over the situation, she was clearly in denial. Sookie told Maxine to keep the Jason stuff from Eric. The old woman agreed even knowing she was going to break that promise if Sookie didn't tell Eric on her own. Sookie could be mad at her; Eric needed to know.

LAST CHAPTER OF MAKE A WISH BEING POSTED TO FANFICTION - MOVE TO WORDPRESS PLEASE (see my profile)

and now you see why you wanted to get the frying pan out - Jason is back with a vengeance! I'm all ready to start editing Chapter 9 and hope to have it up this weekend - so I won't leave you hanging on the reaction to Jason's fun and games for long.


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